Holiday Cheer

[intheheart]

Title: Holiday Cheer
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Couples and holidays.
Warnings: flashbacks that could be interpreted as PTSD
Notes: This story marks three hundred on Rainbowfic. So's you know.


1. King cake

"It's a giant cinnamon bun," Ivy said, picking at her slice of cake. "I mean, really."

"You like cinnamon buns," Gina informed her, and reached over to wipe away a smear of icing on Ivy's lower lip. "This one's just got sprinkles on it."

Ivy hummed, and caught Gina's thumb between her teeth for a moment, her tongue flashing hot and wet over the icing before she let go. "So this is a Mardi Gras tradition?"

"Yes," Gina said. "Point of interest, so is flashing your breasts."

"Well, that I'm taking for granted," Ivy said, and winked.

Gina flushed, happily.



2. Beads

Hector was an atheist all days of the year but one: November 1st, All Saints' Day. He still participated in the holidays, when he could—it maintained some tenuous connection to his childhood and family—but he didn't really believe what he was doing.

But All Saints' Day. All Saints' Day he picked up his rosary and he went to church, knelt at the altar and ticked over the beads until his knees ached. All Saints' Day he felt his family near, dead and alive.

All Saints' Day was the day he'd met Theo.

On that one day, he believed.



3. Parade

Neither of them much liked turkey, so they roasted a chicken instead. The cranberry sauce was a given, because Hugh loved it, and so were the sweet potatoes, because they were Joanna's favorite. That and green beans and pie, the Macy's parade on TV and that was it, because Thanksgiving wasn't about the food for them.

It wasn't the parade either, although that was something to watch, curled up next to each other while the chicken was in the oven. It was what they'd lost, Hugh's daughter and Joanna's children and their extended families, and what they'd found: each other.



4. Ball

The kids always made themselves scarce on Valentine's Day. Gail still wasn't sure if it was tact or self-preservation.

There was a party that she and Nathan had planned on attending, and with that in mind she'd pulled out her favorite dress, a slinky green thing that flattered her breasts and hips without unduly highlighting her two-child belly. She'd also added some flattering underwear, because it was Valentine's Day, and one never knew what might happen.

It turned out to be a prudent move, because Nathan had chosen to wear his dress uniform.

They didn't make it to the party.



5. Stilts

There was a stiltwalker, on the beach where the whole family went for Memorial Day. Well, the whole family this summer, now that Thea was well. Before it had been an excuse to get the children away, to let her recover. Now it was a chance to be together.

At any rate, there was a stiltwalker, and the kids were mesmerized, even Chrissy. The twins were looking worryingly thoughtful, but Thea was not going to think about that now.

"Reminds me of you," Henrik said, in her ear. "Balancing everything, and never falling."

She smiled, and snuggled into his embrace.



6. Costumes

Christine loved Halloween.

As a girl, she'd made all her costumes and her brothers and sisters' too. As a mother, she did the same for her children, but made them help. She took them out trick or treating, with their fat jolly pumpkin bags and their bright eyes, let them eat no more than five pieces of candy after, and put them to bed.

Then their father got to see her special costume, all silk and lace and wisps of satin. Alan was always very emphatic in his appreciation of it and of her.

They didn't come better than Halloween.



7. French Quarter

Zack had bought a cake. Summer blinked at it.

"...why?" she managed, finally.

"It's Bastille Day," Zack said, entirely too cheerfully.

She tilted her head. "This isn't France, though. We don't celebrate it."

Zack shrugged. "It's an excuse for cake. Who doesn't love cake?"

"I love cake," Felipe put in, wrapping his arms around Zack's waist and resting his chin on his shoulder. "Don't you love cake, Summer?"

"I don't understand," she said, but she took the piece of cake Zack handed her anyway, because some things were worth the bewilderment, and her boys had never steered her wrong before.



8. Ash Wednesday

He scattered her ashes on Labor Day.

He probably should've waited for the children, but somehow Gary didn't think they'd want to be there. Ethan found the whole trappings of grief morbid, and Clara was finally back at school; he wouldn't want to interrupt them.

So it was him, and Lynne, and the beach where they'd gone for Labor Day before they had children, just the two of them. He talked to her after, said how much he missed her, but not to worry. They were fine, him and their children. They'd be fine.

It was only goodbye for now.



9. Masquerade

Christmas hurt.

Arelie didn't think it could have been otherwise. She had very little money, so she resorted to knitting: a scarf for Lawrence, gloves for Maria, a tiny pink hat that she finished and immediately hid. She expected nothing from them. They'd welcomed her into their home. The least she could do was be cheerful.

She missed Farid so much. Christmas with him would have been a joy. The two of them cuddling together, his face when he felt the kicks of their child growing inside her...

She couldn't think about that. Not if she was going to smile.



10. Carnival

There was a carnival outside of New York every Fourth of July that Joy went to, every year. She was a sucker for carnivals, for the bright music and the melting taste of cotton candy, for the cheap silly games and laughing children with paint on their faces. She went alone most years; most of her friends would just mock it.

That year Michael was in town, shaggy-haired and warm-eyed, and on impulse she offered to take him. He won a giant pink rabbit, got his face painted, and fed her cotton candy, eyes bright.

Yeah, it was this one.



11. Confetti

The band had a party for New Year's that was really just them hanging out, having a few beers, playing videogames, and fucking around on their instruments. Danny dropped by, Ivy was there for a while, and Russell's on-again off-again boyfriend hung out most of the evening.

Penny and Jay didn't have anybody coming by, but that was kind of fine by Jay. It was nice, being the two of them.

He kissed her at midnight, and picked a piece of confetti out of her thick black hair, and carried it in his wallet for the rest of the year.



12. Floats

The twins had a particular idea of Easter that they'd made up and clung to stubbornly. First the Easter egg hunt—and Aaron wouldn't lie, hiding the eggs was one of his favorite activities. Then the twins went to Ivy and their parents went out to the river, to watch petals bobbing past on the current, pink shreds against deep green-brown.

Aaron sat with an arm around Clara, her head a warm weight against his shoulder, and thought about renewal, flowers, easter eggs, and the twins' faces, bright and happy.

"It's a good day," he said aloud, and Clara nodded.



13. Bourbon Street

"I ordered bourbon," Jake said, giving the glass he held an unpleasant look.

"That is bourbon," Olivia said, and sat down in his lap since there were no other seats available. He wrapped an arm around her waist, steadying.

"It's green."

"It's St. Patrick's Day," she told him, curling her own drink against her breastbone. "Everything's green."

He made a face, then looked at hers. "What's that?"

"Kiss Me, I'm Irish." She tried a sip. Not bad.

"Okay," he said, and kissed her, hard and hot.

"I meant the drink," she said, when she'd gotten her breath back.

He smiled.



14. Flashing

The second year they were together, they drove to DC for the Veterans' Day ceremony at Arlington. Lars slept in the passenger's seat while Danny drove, lights flashing by in the darkness, fragments of memory surfacing.

The boy in Basic who'd died in an accident. A friend shot in the face during maneuvers. Unofficial skirmishes with pirates, machine guns rattling, the peculiar tink of a bullet as it ricocheted off metal.

She didn't tell people about it. She went to the ceremony by herself, most years.

She glanced over at Lars, snoring lightly, and felt some part of her lift.



15. Lent

Holidays had to end.

You had to go back to everyday life sometime. You had to sweep up the confetti, pick up the plastic cups and take down the banners. And that was nice, sometimes, when you were partied out and just wanted the routine of another day.

It was nice, too, to know that there was somebody there with you, grousing about the spilled drinks, picking up popcorn. It was nice to have someone to snuggle with in bed afterwards, whose shoulder you could fall asleep on.

Everything in its season, to every season a holiday.

It was nice.