Christmas in the Outback

"Pop's just in the dunny." Kringle said as they came inside, "Once he's back, we're doing presents."

"Unless another of us nicks off." Ginger grinned cheekily.

"Don't you dare." Kringle narrowed her eyes.

Clancy shook his head, and tried to find a seat at the edge of the circle of people that had sprung up by the tree. There was no more space on the couches, but he wasn't sitting on the tiles. He grabbed a chair from the table and spun it around.

Then, with another thought, pulled over a second one.

Ginger seemed to anticipate this, and sat beside his chair - but up and on the arm of the couch. She crossed her legs and balanced there perfectly, smiling brightly around the room.

He gave a small shake of his head, and then turned to giving small talk to one of his cousins as they sat nearby. It was just the usual nonsense. What they'd been up to, how long it had been since they saw each other, and so on.

Ginger was doing much of the same herself, chatting with the people on the couch.

Everyone heard the flush of the toilet down the hall, a thundering following by the clap of the door. Meaning that Pop looked rather embarrassed as he joined everyone in the main hall.

Clancy's mother solved this by having the first present be one for Pop. Which turned out to be BBQ apron with the words 'The *Better* Chef' emblazoned across it.

Wrapping paper crinkled and presents came out quickly, each one opened in full view and attention of everyone else. People patiently waiting their turn, but more celebrating with their family members at their gift.

Somewhere along the way, Ginger shifted into leaning onto Clancy. He wasn't sure how, and he wasn't sure it was comfortable, but that was her position and he wasn't shifting it.

Now and then a present elicited a ripple of chuckles from the crowd, and Clancy felt the need to try and explain the joke that had caused it. When Kringle unwrapped a pretzel, and gave a stone-faced expression across the room at her mother, he went to explain - and Ginger put a hand over his mouth.

Kringle crossed the room and gave her mother a small hug, and a death adder's glare. Then she grabbed the next present, and her face exploded into a grin. She skipped over and held it out to Ginger.

The woman's freckles disappeared into an embarrassed redness, "Y'all weren't pullin' me leg? Ya actually got me something?"

Kringle stared, "Half the presents under the tree are for you. Serious."

"Oh god." Ginger's soul shrivelled up.

She took the present delicately, as if it were made of china. She turned over the card, and read it aloud. "For Ginger. May this Christmas season find you with all the happiness and joy of an adopted family. Aw. From... Santa? Seriously?"

The family gave a collective grin.

The girl shook her head and then unwrapped the present. Clancy noticed that she didn't rip the paper at all. Somehow she managed to get the tape to detach without tearing any of the wrapping, and unfolded it politely.

She lifted up a small paper bag from inside. It had a traditional bush name as a brand name, spelling out that it contained some whole bush tomatoes. A little dried fruit treat.

"Those are grown, near here." Clancy said, and then frowned, "Well... 'Near'. Next farm over, about fifteen kay."

Ginger grinned and popped it open, and one into her mouth, "Mmm. Not sharing."

The room laughed, and the next present came out. A few passed through. There was some of the usual things. Jumpers for the next winter, some tent gear for the more adventurous ones, socks and underwear.

Then it was Clancy's turn.

The little package that arrived on his lap was wrapped in scrap newspaper, not wrapping paper. It was yellowed and curled with age - and he was pretty sure he recognised it from the stuff that was set aside for his mother's fireplace.

There was a card attached to it... Sort of. It was made from a piece of kindling. It had his name carved into the top, followed by a picture of a present, and then just the initial *S*.

That last bit tripped him up for a moment, especially because Ginger had sat up and was watching him expectantly.

He smiled up at her, before unwrapping his present from Susanna. Who everyone always called Ginger. Inside he found something that was far too detailed. He had absolutely no idea where she'd found the time to carve him a fist-sized model of Dog.

He reached up and hugged her, surprising the woman who instinctively went to pull away. He let go instantly, pretending to look at the model to save the moment. "This is fantastic. You're quite the artist."

"Finally! Welcoming another real artist into the family." His mother said proudly, completely missing the awkwardness of the moment.

Ginger slipped from the couch, and sat herself on his knee and put one arm around his shoulder. Gifting him another faery-weight kiss upon the cheek. "An artist always needs someone to inspire them."

Pop gave a cough, "Still in the room. So... Next?"

Clancy looked at Ginger with concern, paying no mind to the things happening around them. He whispered, "You don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with. She'll be right. This is day two."

"You're mine, Clancy." She replied just as quietly, but with an absolute surety to her voice. "I... Might have forgotten what it's like to have a man around. But I'm never letting you go. You're a miracle, for the both of us."

He heard a challenge there, and leaned over to prove that he'd greet it. Kissing her cheek lightly. He wasn't as delicate as her, and couldn't match her featherweight touch.

As he leaned back, he found Ginger's face more in tune with her name than he ever had before.

The two turned their attentions back to the happenings around them, but with her still sitting in his lap, and hanging off his neck. They were a unit, a couple. Not solid, still stumbling and awkward, but it was sealed in that moment.

---

The rest of the day was mostly a lazing nothing. Clancy, Kringle and Ginger did take a moment to move the latter's piles of loot to the guest room, laughing at just how much she had got, but that was the last effort of the day.

Sunset found most of the family sitting around the pool. Some people dropping off to sleep from overindulging, or age. Clancy was sitting on one of the chairs, looking up at the stars and thinking much of nothing.

Ginger was on a chair beside him, reading a novel that Kringle had nearly squealed after discovering her new friend reading it. However, unable to engage her on that yet, Kringle had swapped into her swimsuit and had spent most of the rest of the day in the water.

As the sun began to fall, the entire landscape lit up in violent oranges and reds, fighting for dominance. It almost felt brighter than the day, as the sun beat through the dust and across the entire view.

The clouds overhead became a voluminous blanket of deep and dark purple, and blues, hiding beneath the red. They felt more akin to an artist's paintbrush than water droplets hovering somewhere overhead.

Deep shadows danced back and forth across the landscape, hiding and revealing the footprints of the native animals.

Ginger slowly closed her book, and swung her legs over the side of the chair. She hesitated for a moment, pursing her lips in thought, before standing and taking his hand.

He looked up, but she silently tugged on his hand again.

Clancy followed after her, as she led him out onto the sand. Feet sinking into the soft redness as she led him away from the family home, and the Christmas music coating it. Stepping out and into the shadows of the night.

He found himself walking across and into the red light at the doorway of her room, before following Ginger silently inside the room.

The door clicked closed behind them.

Her t-shirt lifted up, as she crossed her arms and pulled it away. Revealing the soft skin of her back as she faced away from him and effortlessly discarded the item.

Clancy stepped up behind her, cautiously putting his arms around her. She leant back into him and gave out a soft and relaxed sigh. Welcoming him in, without the hesitation she'd shown before.

He kissed her cheek gently, but she turned.

Her lips found his.

His hands rested in the small of her back, as Ginger's thigh moved between his legs, pressing gently but firmly upwards. Her bare chest pushed against his shirt, as the two of them explored each other's mouths.

There was a hunger to her movements, gentle, but hungry. Trying to find a way to unite the two of them. She found the bottom of his shirt and ripped it over his head, fast enough that the kiss hardly seemed to break.

Clancy found himself pushed back into the doorway, and her fingers finding the button of his jeans. He took it as permission, and he reached for the clasp of her bra.

Her softness pressed unrestricted into his chest, and then Clancy found himself falling backwards onto the edge of the bed in a flurried movement. Ginger grinned down at him, her freckles along her reddened cheeks.

Then he felt himself at her entrance and realised the monumental moment that was about to happen.

Ginger gave a tiny gasp, and he felt a shiver pulse through his entire body, and then... Then they were one. Her lips found his again, and there was no more urgency to it.

The two of them lay united. The kisses were soft, breaking to give a smaller one, before rejoining. His hands explored her back, as her thighs lay against his.

He pulsed inside her, hard and questing. With every jerk of the muscle, she replied. This woman knew her kegals, gently caressing him. Welcoming him into her, to be a part of her.

Clancy rolled her onto her back, looking down at her as he took one of her hands in his. She grinned up at him, and voicelessly nodded. Her silence quickly turning into one of ragged and half-caught breaths.

He drove down into her, as Ginger raised her hips to strike against his. The two moved in a synchronicity he had never known. She wasn't just tight. She pulsed against him, twisting and caressing the thing ploughing into her.

The sounds of dusk were somewhere in the background, Dog letting out a howl somewhere. A mob of kangaroos pounding across the horizon. The gentle Christmas music of the distant house.

Ginger's eyes fixed on his, a smile and moan passing back and forth across her face. Her fingernails pulling at his back, her knees by his hips. Her voice filling his ears despite it's lack of volume.

Despite her tightness, Clancy soon found himself upping the pace, sluicing through her generous wetness. The two of them clapping out the sound of their lovemaking.

The quiet gasps turned to guttural groans, halfway upon a growl. Ginger's eyes went from loving to wide and desperate, overwhelmed by the feeling of him so deep within her.

Ginger looked up at him, her eyes fixed on his, "Come on, Clancy... Overflow."

He burst out laughing and fell forward into her shoulder.