A Christmas Steele by Felyndiira
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Remington Steele (wish I did!) nor A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. This blending of the two however is mine.
Author Notes: A/U where Bonds of Steele and Season 5 never occurred
Prologue: Twas the Night Before Christmas
Thursday, December 24, 1987, 1 p.m.
Steele sat in his chair facing the window, looking out at the view he enjoyed so much, pondering what sorts of activities would keep him occupied over the next week away from the office. After years of complaining how slow work was during the holiday season, and after the craziness of being held hostage last year for Christmas, the Remington Steele Agency was closing down for the rest of the year. It had been a very slow week already, allowing them to get caught up on the ever-present piles of paperwork from closed cases. The last pile requiring his signature sat on his desk behind him, being ignored in favor of the view and trying to decide what to do with himself for a week. Should he go skiing in Canada, or perhaps Switzerland? Or perhaps staying home and having a customized movie marathon with his wonderful collection of classic movies was in order. He never seemed to have the time to enjoy his movies now that he had the luxury of having the technology to watch them whenever he wanted from the comfort of his own home. Christmas was not something he particularly celebrated, and he found it difficult to imagine Christmas on an 85 degree day. At least it wasn't as hot as last year.
The connecting door from Laura Holt's office opened, and Laura breezed in with a package under her arm.
"Mr. Steele, we're about ready to leave for the airport. Mildred is so excited about spending a week up in Seattle with her sister for the holidays. I thought we should give her the Christmas present we have for her first, do you agree?" Laura sat the gaily wrapped package on his desk, and then perched herself on the corner of his desk as he turned the chair around to face her.
"Yes, Ms. Holt. That sounds like an excellent idea." He picked up the phone and buzzed Mildred Krebs, the third member of the Remington Steele Agency, asking her to come into his office. Mildred breezed in, "Yes, Boss."
Laura responded, "Mildred, before I drive you to the airport, Mr. Steele and I have a Christmas present for you."
"Oh kids, I brought my presents for you both, let me go get them." She scurried back out to the lobby and returned to Steele's office with two brightly wrapped presents, one red and one green. She handed the red package to Laura, and set the green package on the desk in front of Steele. "I hope you like them."
Laura handed Mildred her present, and Mildred held it while she watched Laura and Steele open their presents. Laura was very slow to remove the paper from her box, so Steele got his open first, and he grinned to find a video tape. "Oh Mildred! "The Big Sleep", Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Warner Brothers, 1946, how did you know this was missing from my collection?"
Mildred returned his smile, "Well Boss, as an apprentice detective you learn ways to figure out things like that, you know?" and they both laughed. Meanwhile Laura finally finished opening her box, and pulled out a gold stick-pin shaped like a magnifying glass. "Mildred, what a wonderful piece!" She undid the fastener so she could put it on as Mildren explained, "It's really a magnifying glass too, Ms. Holt, you never know when you'll need one of those, so it's a handy way to keep one close by!" Laura leaned forward to hug Mildred, as Steele gets up, walks around the desk, and gives her a peck on the cheek. "Now you open your present, Mildred," Laura says, exchanging a glance with Steele who now leans against the front of his desk.
Mildred eagerly rips off the wrapping paper, and opens the box to find a lot of tissue paper. She hunts through the paper with one hand while balancing the box on the other until she finds what is hidden inside. As she pulls out the leather wallet, all three of them have a flashback to last year, when Mildred and Laura had given Steele his Remington Steele passport in much the same way. Opening the leather wallet with one hand, Mildred gasps in surprise and drops the box, and looks up at the two of them with tears in her eyes. "My.. investigators license? But how..." Laura moves to stand next to her, "I have a friend who works for the licensing bureau, and with testimonials from both myself and Mr. Steele, we were able to speed things up a bit." Mildred looks at Steele, "So the other day when you said you were testing the Agency's new camera..." and Steele nods, "I was actually getting the picture we needed to get your license put together. Merry Christmas, Mildred."
Mildred wiped her eyes, "Thanks kids. Thanks so much." Laura hugged her again, and said, "This means some changes in the new year for the Agency. We'll need a new receptionist as you'll be busy being a full time investigator, and we really don't have the office space to handle 3 investigators plus our overflowing files. I think the Agency will get a present this year too - new office space with more room. But that can wait until the new year. Now we should get you to the airport so you don't miss your flight, Mildred!" Laura and Steele start to follow Mildred out to the lobby where her two suitcases sit next to the desk. Laura stops and turns to Steele, "The offer to have Christmas dinner with my sister and her family is still open if you want to change your mind, Mr. Steele?" He shakes his head, "No, Ms. Holt, Christmas is a time for family and fond memories of Christmases gone by. Two things I don't have. So you have a good time with the Pipers while Mildred enjoys a long visit with her sister. Perhaps you could come over one evening next week for our own Christmas dinner to exchange presents? I'd offer to exchange them now but I've left yours at my flat." Laura nods, "Your present is at the loft. How about Sunday evening, say about 7 o'clock?" Steele agrees, and they go out to the lobby where Mildred is grabbing her coat, and Laura and Steele each grab one of her bags to take them down to Laura's car.
They put the luggage in the back seat, and Steele gives Mildred a peck on the check and a hug goodbye saying, "Have a good visit, Mildred, and we'll see you next year!". "OK, Boss, and thank you again for my present." Mildred climbs into the passenger seat of the Rabbit and Laura reminds Steele to lock up the office when he leaves. She climbs into the driver's seat, and Mildred and Laura both wave goodbye to Steele and head for the airport. Laura mutters, "We should call him Remington Scrooge with all that Christmas spirit he has." Mildred replies, "Now honey, he probably doesn't have a lot of happy memories of Christmas. Maybe we can work on that and bring him around. Deal?" Laura nods, "Deal." She makes the turn onto the freeway headed towards the airport.
Steele heads back upstairs to the office, the last pile of paperwork, and contemplating what gourmet meal he should prepare to delight Laura for Christmas. It was odd, he never gave much thought to Christmas until coming to Los Angeles. As he had told Laura, it was a holday for family and happy memories, things he didn't have much of in his past. Although the receiving of presents was a nice treat, trying to find just the right presents for people was a much harder chore than he anticipated. The first couple of years he was here, he didn't really try too hard, but now, he found himself thinking a lot more about what the right present for each person should be. He was delighted when Laura had suggested getting Mildred her license as a joint present from the both of them, that cut his shopping list in half. As for Laura, he had finally decided on a lovely cashmere sweater in a shade of blue that he thought she would look stunning in. He finished up the paperwork and put it in the "To Be Filed" box on Mildred's desk, made sure he had his video tape, and locked everything up before heading down to the Auburn. If he was going to make a smashing Christmas dinner, he needed to stop at the store before returning to the Rossmore. They had also given Fred the week off, not that Steele minded having an excuse to drive his precious Auburn around town without trying to tail someone or outrun someone. Just to enjoy it for a couple of hours, what a treat. Then it'd be back home, and he'd enjoy his annual tradition of watching "It's a Wonderful Life", James Stewart, Donna Reed, RKO, 1946.
Thursday, December 24, 1987, 6 p.m.
Steele finally unlocks the door to his apartment, juggling a couple of bags of groceries and his video, returning home much later than he thought he would be. He had found a movie theater showing "It's a Wonderful Life" and thought it would be a treat to watch it in a theater as it was meant to be enjoyed, so he stopped and watched that before running to the store. While it was an entertaining afternoon, he was now at a loss about what to do for the rest of the evening. Putting the groceries away, he decides to make a sandwich for his dinner and perhaps he will watch "The Big Sleep" now that he has it. Grabbing a glass of water and his sandwich, he moves to the bedroom where his big screen TV and video player are set up. He powers everything up, and then realizes that he left the video in the other room. As he turns to go get it, the announcer says that tonight's normal programming will not be seen tonight for a special Christmas presentation. Glancing back at the screen, he expects to see the opening of "It's a Wonderful Life", but instead sees the opening credits of a movie he hasn't seen in a number of years. He raises his eyebrows in surprise and mutters, "A Christmas Carol", Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Loew's, 1938. This would be a nice change. He quickly changes into a set of pyjamas and settles down on top of the covers of his bed with his sandwich to watch the movie. As it reaches the scene where Marley explains to Scrooge about the ghosts that would be visiting him that night, Steele drifts off to sleep.
