A Late Christmas Gift 02

Sugarbell sat at the single bare desk and dug into its personal storage, coming up holding a wooden box with a shape that hurt a little to look at for too long for how complex its construction was. "Like it?" she asked, moving one section that looked like it surely had to be in conflict with the one beside it. "It's so hard to make a real puzzle box with a unique pattern anymore because, you know, you only have so many directions to work with in the first place. And most of the more fun patterns are already in use after all, beside being infinitely re-settable. It took so long to make the seams so they wouldn't pick up carpet hair; that's exactly where it will end up on Christmas day after all. See, you move this part inward and that aligns the internals so it can slide sideways, here."

He bent in to examine it closer and eventually took it into his own hands to get a feel for it. It was just a wooden cube-type-thing made of long, smooth pieces, but hidden behind the wood was a core of moving hinges and joints that made the individual pieces move almost like a ball of slime in his hand, almost too smooth and easy to manipulate. He almost felt like smashing it against the floor just so that he could get a look at its insides for himself, but when he saw Sugarbell giggling at his interest, proudly watching over him, he had to set it down and resign himself to ignorance.

"You made that?" he asked.

"Darn skippy I did!" She cracked the widest smile and hopped up from her seat to cling to his arm. "This is home, but you should see it when we're in season. Sure, not much actually comes out of research and development, not the tinker department at least, but every day you get to see at least one of us bolt up screaming that we've had a breakthrough." Her mood dropped for an instant but she caught it with her pride. "If it only wasn't so difficult to manufacture, I'm sure my puzzle would be really popular."

"It does seem fun."

"Oh, but kids these days don't love handheld toys as much as they did back in the day. Now if it doesn't do something electronic it might as well be a wooden train to some of you humans."

They continued on through the labyrinthine shelving and through a small, frozen courtyard to the stables where the elf who'd given them the ride up was just putting away the reindeer. That elf gave them a considerate tip of the bell-tipped hat and went about minding his business back in the party.

There were a dozen of the animals, perfectly well-behaved, and Rick was allowed to feed a couple of them a carrot for their service in getting the two of them up to the North Pole while Sugarbell kept a watchful distance.

Then it was back inside to the main hall behind the workshop. Elfs were condensed here from all around, engaged in the kind of merriment known only to fraternities and Caligulan orgies, downing spiked eggnog by the tankard and stumbling into a dance with the rest of them where victory consisted of keeping on your own two feet instead of someone else's. Thankfully they'd seemed to keep enough of their senses that nobody was currently being trampled underfoot. The music, played by a live band, Rick considered Christmas music because the elfs in their colorful vests and their jingling hats could only be said to play the stuff, but it kept people going at more or less the right pace and directed slurred caroling. One was being stood atop a keg, several were engaged in an honest-to-god pillow fight in the corner, and the feast set up against one wall Rick knew if he'd been even a little hungry the smell would have made him cut through the sloshed crowd.

Almost as he had the thought, Sugarbell appeared at his side with a couple plates already made up and led him to a table.

His heart skipped a beat as he saw what was at the next table over and he tried not to point. "Honey, is that a demon?"

Sugarbell licked some cream off of her fingertip slowly, the next salvo in a game of suggestion that sadly came and went without notice since there was a literal god-damn demon sitting right beside them eating a piece of banana-cream pie of all things! "Yeah?" she said with a sigh. "You humans do still know Krampus, right? Hey, Uncle Fuzzy!"

The hunched, eight-foot tall, bestial humanoid tipped its horned head in greeting. "Ho, little one. Nice party this year, yeah?"

"Bet," she said, hanging herself over Rick's back as if pressing her breasts into him directly was the only way to ensure his attention in light of the cosmological oddity before him. "This here's my beau, so you better not eat'im or you'll have me to face."

In the background, an elf successfully backflipped face-first into a cream pie.

The demon held up his palms in mock surrender and laughed alongside her. This helped Rick's heart recover from the shock and he chided himself for letting something supernatural surprise him at this point. Someone who was literally sleeping with an elf should anticipate that other "things" existed after all, he thought. And everyone else was having a good time anyway, while this demon sat back and enjoyed the atmosphere like an uncle who would later be found sloshed and dozing in his favorite chair later.

Another elf had stripped off her shirt and was twirling it in the air above her head. The woman's frilly undies went deliberately unseen by Rick... red...

"Ah, sorry about that," Rick said. "All of this is still a little new to me."

"Yeah?" the demon said, leaning in and thankfully not smelling as musty as his shaggy hair suggested. "Like I'm not used to your kind bein' scared stiff, haha! Be outta a job if I couldn't do that much!" His voice boomed and he slapped Rick's back congenially. "And here's the old lady herself."

Rick turned to see the newcomer and had to stop himself freezing again.

She'd tucked her wings in tight against her body, dressed for a much warmer climate in a white toga with one shoulder exposed to the air, not that the chill would matter, as the halo made it perfectly clear what Rick was looking at and he was sure she was as comfortable here as she would be in the center of a volcano.

"Angels exist too?" he whispered to Sugarbell, who'd stuck to his back and giggled wildly at her boyfriend's expense. "Um, hello, miss..."

The woman smiled with the warmth of a smoldering hearth. All of the sudden, tension he didn't know he had been carrying was released, and he took Sugarbell's hand in his.

"Right, sorry, you don't have to explain yourself to me," he said. "Have a nice Christmas this year?"

The angel simply nodded and sat with Krampus.

It all tasted good, extremely good, but Rick caught himself picking at his plate a little by the end, wishing it had been Sugarbell's home cooking instead. When the last morsel was down, she pulled him out of the main hall and away from all the manic singing and dancing. It did seem like it would devolve over time into a bundle or a pile of sloppy drunks, and Sugarbell led him with intent in her eyes and a healthy impatience.

So it wasn't that surprising when they came into another hall packed to the gills with stacked beds and she laid her spread fingers on his chest to push him into one. She curled up into his lap and leaned up to kiss his chin. "They're usually more professional than that," she said, hiding her blushing face in his shoulder. "I didn't realize it would feel this embarrassing."

"It's good that they feel so free and safe to let themselves go." Rick wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin atop her head, her soft hair rustling softly beneath in the relative quiet. They could still hear the ruckus on the other side of the huge building, but it was like a fading dream while they were together, alone in this little corner. "I'm glad you weren't afraid to bring me."

"I am afraid," she whispered. "These sorts of things, they never amount to what you think they will when you finally come to see them in person. Heh, I probably could have ridden out my mystique for another year, that's nice and sexy." In his lap, snuggled up nice and tight, she couldn't know how attracted he was in the moment without even thinking of sex. "At least you'll be able to talk to some of them once they've sobered up in the morning. I think you'll end up liking my brothers and sisters."

"No, I don't think so," he said, smiling when she looked sadly up at him. "That would mean I didn't already like them, silly."

She laughed once and elbowed him in the ribs. "But really, though, I know how you feel about drunkards."

"They're your family and they're happy. I'll forgive a hell of a lot before they end up bothering me. And besides, none of them are going to be asking for a drive home." Rick put his arm around Sugarbell, felt how feverishly hot she already was before he leaned in and pointedly did not kiss her lips, but the tip of her nose. When she pouted, he turned his hips and deposited her on the bed, pinning her beneath him. It was so hard, in that moment when she was looking up at him with misty eyes and pinked cheeks, ready to accept him, not to ravish her right then in someone else's bed. He had to settle with nuzzling into her neck and laying a tender kiss again at her collarbone. "We should come back to your place every year," he whispered against her supple, pale skin.

"Yes, you should~" Su- no, that wasn't her voice...

Rick shot to attention and banged his head against the bunk above, coming to scant seconds later. It was an elf in one of those adorably-ugly-as-sin Christmas sweaters long enough to serve as a dress, reminding him of the night he met Sugarbell, though that was literally a few days ago. She had bright, blonde hair in the same shade as Sugarbell's, set into a long braid slung over her shoulder, the same smile with the same adorable dimples. She sat herself by Rick's side as Sugarbell was still sitting up and she nuzzled herself against his arm, in fact taking it and hugging it against a somewhat larger than Sugarbell's, decidedly bra-less, chest.

"Oh, um," Rick stuttered, "Sorry about that miss. Say, are you Sugarbell's sister or something?"

The newcomer cheerily smiled at Sugarbell, who had only just gotten up and taken Rick's other arm for herself with pouting possessiveness. "It's a strong resemblance, isn't it? Bet you'd have some trouble figuring it out in the dark, or maybe you wouldn't~" She pulled his arm tighter, squishing him shamelessly between her breasts.

"Oh, I wouldn-"

"Mom, stop it!" Sugarbell finally squealed, pulling Rick as far as she could to her side but failing to get him free as she ran out of bed space to retreat into.

"Mom!?" he said.

The woman in question moved such that only Rick could see her impish tongue poke out, then a wink. She let go and Rick was hugged tightly to Sugarbell from behind in defense from further teasing. "Yuppers, mom. Oh, you can call me 'mommy' if you really wanna, I wouldn't mind. In fact, I'd really~ really~ like it~"

Sugarbell, with her chin rested atop Rick's shoulder, sighed. "Beau, this is Lov, my mother... I beg you don't call her mommy."

"So," Rick also winked conspiratorially, "mommy, it's nice to meet you already. I love your daughter."

"I'm sure you do, she's lovable all right," Lov said, covertly slipping her fingers through Rick's. "I'm so glad to be able to meet you so soon. That was quite the hubbub a few months ago but it seems things are turning out for the best after all. Hehe, it's almost odd that a couple dozen of them aren't following you around right now hoping to get a taste of what they're missing out on."

He didn't want to insult the woman, since for all he knew this was simply a very physically affectionate family, but it felt wrong to be holding another woman's hand and think that it felt almost as good as Sugarbell's. It took a little effort, but he took his hand out of hers and reached up for his girlfriend's at his neck. "A few days ago, I think I might have taken anyone," he felt a squeeze around his neck, "but, but there's a second part of that sentence, honey. Now, I don't think I would settle for anyone but your daughter, ma'am."

Lov pouted playfully. "What happened to 'mommy'? Oh, no matter, you'll get there in the fullness of time." She leaned in and briefly kissed his cheek. "I was looking for the two of you, you know. How scandalous~ I wonder what the two of you were planning in this dark, little corner." No, the smile she had told the truth, she knew exactly what she was interrupting. "Sukk, they're holding the raffle for the NP room tonight. I got you a ticket but you have to actually be there in the hall to win."

"Already!?" Sugarbell jumped up and snatched the ticket from her mother's grasp. Rick began getting up to follow her but she put a hand on his chest and pushed him back onto the bed. Her cheeks were burning ever redder and she couldn't quite look him in the eye. "Umm, I need to do this without you... Don't let mom do anything embarrassing... or don't let me hear about it, please?"

One smooch later, much more than platonic, she ducked out toward the main hall and her footfalls rang out as she rushed to be present.

So... rick was left with the incorrigible Lov, who had taken the opportunity to slip into his lap and put her head against his chest. Really, it was uncanny how well this woman would have been able to present herself as Sugarbell's sister, how well-matched her style of affection was to her daughter's. She tipped up her chin and snuck in an extra small kiss on his jaw.

"Um, ma'am?" he said.

No response, but she was putting more of her light weight against his chest in an effort to tip him down into the bedspread. He had to put an arm behind himself to thwart the attempt, then the other when she refocused her weight to the other side.

"Ma'am."

"Mommy."

He sighed. "I was just messing with Sugarbell, you understand."

Lov grinned up at him and her emerald eyes sparkled with humor. "I do, but that doesn't mean I don't like it." That said, she did take herself out of his lap and sat beside him in bed, one hand still concerningly on his thigh. "She's a serious one, isn't she? More like her father, I think, but there was an age gap to think about, too. He was a bit older than me when I let myself get knocked up."

"Oh, how much?"

"Only about a millennia," she said. "Very stuffy, those ones what still live in the hills. I could only stand it for a few hundred years and then I just had to get out into the world to see what had caught on." Lov went on wistfully, without noticing the flash of surprise that Rick couldn't help but show on his face. "I did take Sukker back there for a few decades once, to see the old man as your people say, but it's very difficult to get audiences in a tight time-frame so we only met with him a half dozen times."

Ah, so we're more similar than I thought, Sugarbell and me...

"Sorry, I'm still not used to thinking about time like this. I mean, I'm only a few decades old myself..."

Lov shrugged. "You aren't missing much. And think about it this way, when you're old and grey, my Sukker will be beside you nice and fresh, nubile as the day she arrived."

He couldn't keep himself from blushing. "That sounds horrible for her, I think..."

She stroked his leg. "She doesn't think so, you have my word."

"... Still, it's too bad she hasn't been able to see her dad much..."

"There will be time for that in the future, if she desires there to be. Who can tell, you may end up liking it down under the hills, if you decide to accompany her when the time comes. Just be sure that you don't eat too much of the food there." She'd said it with a little twitch to her smile.

"Because it's so good, I'll end up fat?" Rick asked.

"Because you may lose track of time and not leave for a few hundred years," Lov said, suddenly stern. "You did get the guide to Faerie that I sent, didn't you? Or were you too busy snogging my girl to be bothered with reading?"

"Um..."

She laughed and pinched his cheek. "Don't try to get one over on me; I was young once, too!"

"You still are, from what I can see."

"Flirt~" she said and lightly punched his arm. "Say, I'm also going to tear you away for something special. Sukker won't be back for a while."

Rick didn't have a chance to answer, as Lov took his hand and pulled him away, down another long hall and up a few flights of stairs, past giggling revelers who oohed and aahed. He'd have to let her down softly, he decided; no reason to burn bridges for a drunken mistake.

But... that wouldn't be necessary...

The room she'd brought him to was lavishly decorated in the way only a dedicated hunter could. White bear furs here and there, hanging, covering the floor, lining the walls. Aside from that, it appeared to be a cabin interior, cozy and secluded from the ruckus in the rest of the workshop. There, sitting in one of two rocking chairs by a roaring fire, was a wizened old man with a large belly and an un-tamable beard. Even without putting his red hat on, there was no mistaking this man for anyone else.

Lov led the way to Santa's side and pushed Rick into the available chair, leaning in for a last platonic kiss on the cheek before whispering, "I know what you thought, but I'm not that good at rock-paper-scissors." She left before the words could sink in for him, cutting off the sounds of the party with the room's gigantic, oaken door.

"Enjoying the party, I imagine?" Santa said and took a drag of hot eggnog from his mug. "It's good to see you again, young man. Sorry that we couldn't work out that mess earlier."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it. I doubt I'd ever have known there was any kind of mix-up." Rick said. He was having trouble looking to the side and confirming to his adult self that his child self had been right all along; the man beside him was a fantasy come true.

"Ho ho, and what a Christmas wish to be missed!" Santa said with a purposeful knee slap. "Something as mundane as the hemming on mail bags can have that kind of effect on the way things go. What a world we live in, isn't it?"

"I mean, I'm happy enough that it happened the way it did," Rick said. His letter being lost in the hustle and bustle of the north pole was the only reason that he was happily living out his days with Sugarbell in the first place, instead of whoever else could be induced by the elfs to meet him way back when. "Wait, have we met?"

"Of course we have, my boy!" Santa bellowed. "Why, you and your father used to make those delightful peanut-butter cookies on Christmas Eve every year. I remember that you and he ate the lion's share, but you would be surprised how few families bother to leave anything out for me anymore. They were his favorite, I seem to recall, but you preferred the oatmeal raisin for some reason. Still, no complaints."

Rick leaned forward onto his knees, somehow feeling so small and insignificant next to the deified figure sitting just beside him. He felt like a little boy again, like he might be punished for saying what he couldn't stop from escaping anymore. "That wasn't my dad, actually, that was my stepdad. I never met my actual father."

Santa reached over and put a bearlike hand on Rick's head to muss his hair. His cheeks really were rosy, and his eyes twinkled with a depth of understanding which laid out the facts before him with a wisdom stemming from millenia of experience. "You know that hurts his feelings, that you never accepted him."

"Yes..."

"It's all well and good to acknowledge the world as it is, call people by their proper titles and all that. But you know, I know you do, family isn't always so cut and dry. See, he may not have been the real thing, but he chose you to be his son."

"Step..."

"Stepson, yes." Santa sighed. "Ah, no sense trying to stitch up old wounds in one night. How is Sukkerklokke doing in the outside world?"