As I told a previous reader, I hope to keep doing weekly (or bi-weekly) updates for some time. I doubt my ideas can last until season 2, but we'll just have to see how far I can go.
Enjoy.
"For the love of god, Ben." Maddie gagged in disgust. "You need to be cleaning these gutters out."
"Come on." Ben scoffed from the base of the ladder. "They're not that bad."
Maddie response came in the form of a wet clump of… something, being dropped from above. It would have caught Ben right on top of the head if he hadn't sidestepped it at the last second.
"Touché." Ben really hoped that was ordinary muck Maddie just threw at him. It sure as hell didn't look like it. "Leave the ladder out when we're done and I'll take a look later."
"Good." Maddie took a couple steps down the ladder, hand outstretched. "Hammer."
Ben handed up the item in question. "I thought those nails had a few more years left."
"Well… if you don't want the lights falling down again… they need to be replaced." Maddie spoke between taps of the hammer into the wood at the roof's edge. "Any luck yet?"
"Work in progress." Ben was still trying to untangle the stupid strands of Christmas lights. Honestly, how on earth could they be so tangled up just sitting in storage? It defied all laws of logic and physics.
"Oh, morning, Ryn." Ben just happened to glance up after removing a particularly annoying knot to find Ryn standing beneath the front porch's overhang. The mermaid was barely awake, barefoot, and clad only in the long t-shirt she'd worn to bed. The same one Ben pretended he didn't know she'd stolen from his closet the night before.
Were this anybody else, Ben would be giving them an earful about standing out in the cold in such a state of undress. Ben knew better than to scold Ryn, though. Her cold tolerance was the stuff of legends. She was perfectly comfortable.
"Morning, Ben." Ryn let out the most adorable yawn. "Maddie?"
"Up here, babe." Maddie called from the top of the ladder, pounding in more nails. "Sleep well?"
"Yes." Ryn's eyes searched all over before realizing Maddie's voice was coming from on high. "I wake to empty bed."
Ben winced internally. He or Maddie probably should have woken her when they got up. He was more surprised she hadn't come to with them. The mermaid was becoming a heavier sleeper by the day.
"Figured we'd let you sleep in." Ben defended, albeit meekly.
"It okay." Ryn rubbed her eyes. Taking a few steps forward, she leaned her weight against Ben. The mermaid narrowly missed stepping on the lights at her feet, if she was even aware of their existence. "Missed Ben and Maddie."
Ben subconsciously wrapped an arm around his girlfriend, lights forgotten. "We'll wake you up next time."
"Nothing day?" Ryn nuzzled Ben's collarbone, not for warmth but to be affectionate, tilting her gaze up.
"Yeah, it's a day off so we're free to do whatever we want." Ben confirmed. "We're working on putting up Christmas decorations now. Once we finish up, we'll figure out what we're doing."
"Christmas?" Ryn tilted her head in that way she did when curious about something new. "What is… Christmas?"
"It's a holiday." Maddie stepped down from the ladder but stopped at the last rung.
The concept of holidays had been brought to Ryn's attention in the past already, but not this particular one. Seeing as how Maddie had taken it upon herself to deliver the explanation, Ben wondered how she would deliver the exposition. Religion, another concept utterly alien to Ryn, was a can of worms neither human knew how to open.
"It's supposed to be about giving, and the good feeling that comes with that." Maddie thought for a moment. "Some people say it's about getting presents, but that's just them being selfish and greedy."
Ah, so the commercial holiday route, good choice.
"Like birthday?"
"Yes, Ryn. Kinda like birthdays, but it's everyone's. People don't get gifts for every single person, though. Usually just people close to them or family. Sometimes not even then. You'll also see things like lights and other decorations scattered everywhere. Speaking of which… Ben?" Maddie made a motion toward the roof.
"Oh, right." Ben refocused himself and handed up part of the strand of lights. Thankfully, he'd managed to remove the final knot right before Ryn arrived.
"As much as I'd like to be part of the cuddlefest, we'll never get this done if one of us isn't the responsible one." Maddie snickered to herself, ascending the ladder to hang the lights upon the nails. "Different people do their decorations in different ways. Some go wacko and put out all kinds of stuff, others go simpler."
"I personally prefer the simple route." Ben used his free hand to guide the string along so it wouldn't tangle between him and Maddie's ladder. "Just a few strings of lights. Makes it a lot easier to take down after Christmas."
"Are they not hard to see?" Ryn watched her mates at work, curious but unsure how she could help.
"Most lights are for after the sun goes down." Ben admitted. "You can see them somewhat during the day but they don't look nearly as good."
"If you want to, Ryn, you can help Ben get the tree down and set it up in the living room." Maddie, not wanting to move the ladder, stretched to reach the last couple points. Ben grabbed hold of the ladder to make sure it didn't wobble beneath Maddie. Ryn, watching Ben and figuring out what was happening, took hold of the opposite side.
"You put tree inside?" Ryn, keeping a tight grip on the ladder, turned to Ben with an expression of total bewilderment. "Tree goes outside, yes?"
Ben couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, Ryn. Don't worry, I'll show you."
"Done!" Maddie clapped her hands in satisfaction. Descending the ladder, she handed the hammer off to Ben before folding the ladder up and leaning it against the wall. She wasn't going to let him forget to check out the gutters later, but for now he had other concerns. "You and Ryn set up the tree, and I'll get the hot chocolate?"
"Sounds like a plan." Ben ushering Ryn back inside.
Maddie vanished into the kitchen, while Ben sent Ryn back to their bedroom to get dressed. She'd have worn his shirt all day if he let her, but she needed to change eventually. Not to mention, the sight of his mermaid half dressed was starting to become distracting. Ben hadn't missed how Maddie stared at Ryn's retreating form. He'd been doing it too, so neither human bothered poking fun at the other.
It was a pain in the neck retrieving the tree's box from the attic, but Ben had done it many times in the past. Even when he was younger and still living with his parents, it was still his job. Not that he needed help, the attic was cramped and two people would only get in each other's way.
It all went well for the most part, right up until the container snagged on the attic's entrance. It did this every single year, despite Ben's many attempts to figure out what was causing it. All he could do was pry the stupid thing loose.
Ben pried it loose alright but lost his footing in the process. He wasn't too far up from the ground, so the fall would be mild when he hit. With nothing to grab, he braced himself for impact.
Except, it never came. Just as Ben began to go down, a pair of lithe hands on his back stopped him mid-fall. He blinked several times, brain still trying to register that, no, he wasn't falling anymore.
"Ben okay?" Ryn leaned out from behind Ben, voice flooded with concern. The mermaid's arms easily supporting her larger mate.
Ben could just barely make out the face of his girlfriend in his peripheral vision. "You are a lifesaver, Ryn." He'd give her a hug if she wasn't the only thing stopping him from becoming intimate with the wood of the floor.
After raising him back up, Ryn didn't remove her hands until Ben was safely back on solid ground. He wanted to say he was fine, but who was he to deny his girlfriend a little peace of mind?
"Well that was a little more adventurous than normal." Ben laughed a little, hoping to reassure his mermaid. "But I got the tree."
The box was heavy, but not too heavy to carry. Hefting it up into his arms, Ben made his way to the living room with Ryn in tow.
"Not real tree." Ryn observed.
"Some people use real ones, but they're messy." Ben pulled out most of the parts before starting the assembly process. "And expensive, I prefer the put together ones like this. You can use them again and again."
"Every Christmas?" Ryn picked up a stray limb and ran her fingers over the synthetic needles.
"Yup." Ben chose to save that part for last so she could fiddle with it. "We also decorate the tree like we did the house."
"More lights?"
"Among other things." Ben finished the tree quickly, he had years of practice from his childhood. Once he'd added Ryn's piece, the construction was complete. He spread the limbs apart so it didn't look quite so fake.
"Looks fake." Ryn put it bluntly, but the words did bring a chuckle out of Ben.
"Yeah, that tends to happen." Ben shrugged. "These usually only look real from a distance, up close it's obvious."
Next up, Ben dug out the smaller strings of lights. Once Ben got it across how to wrap the lights around the tree, he fished out the package of ornaments. He never went as hardcore as his family used to when he was little, but he did have some to hang.
"I see this before." Ryn had finished the lights while Ben was setting out what he had at his disposal. She had plucked one of them up while he wasn't looking.
"Really?" Ben was curious now. It was just an ordinary bauble. A round sphere made of thin metal in a red color. It was about as close to a cliché tree ornament as one could find. "Where?"
"In water." Ryn examined what she held. "It was different."
"Ryn!" Ben managed to get his warning out just in the nick of time. Realizing what she was doing, Ryn loosed her grip on the object. She'd come within heartbeats of accidentally crushing it in her enhanced grip. Whatever it was the things looked like, their ocean counterpart was a lot sturdier.
"Fragile, too fragile." Ryn's countenance fell a little. "Sorry."
"Nah." Ben waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about it, these things are everywhere. I just didn't want you to cut yourself. These are… ah ha! Perfect! Here, see?"
While emptying the box, Ben found one of the same type that Ryn almost broke. Except this one was already shattered into pieces. Picking out some, he gently handed them over to Ryn for her to look at.
"Not same." Ryn carefully turned the metal over in her hands.
"They break easily, too. I imagine yours are much tougher." Ben took the broken metal back and tossed them in the nearby trash can. "Now to hang the ornaments."
Thankfully, they had no more incidents. Ben showed Ryn how to hang the trinkets on the tree so that the weight was spread out. Last thing she needed was to accidentally drop the tree on herself because she overloaded one side.
"All done." Ben said once the last part was hung. The pair took a few steps back to admire their handywork. "What do you think, Ryn?"
"Pretty." Ryn leaned back into Ben's chest, his arms instinctively coming to wrap around her middle.
"Looking good, you two." Maddie's voice came from the nearby doorway. "And yes, I've been here for a little bit."
Had they been anyone else, Ben and Ryn might have jumped apart in surprise, but man and mermaid were too comfortable in their embrace to do so. Instead the pair just turned their heads to look at their girlfriend.
"Yeah, I thought so." Ben agreed with a nod.
"Wasn't talking about the tree." Maddie apprached with a fond smile, holding her arms out wide. "Where's my hug?"
Ryn left Ben's hold, albeit with a tiny bit of hesitation, to throw one arm around Maddie. Her other hand had taken hold of Ben's and didn't let go. He didn't even hesitate to follow Ryn and join her in embracing Maddie.
"That's more like it." Maddie giggled. "Come on, I've got hot chocolate waiting in the kitchen."
The rest of December passed in a blur. Bristol Cove celebrated Christmas like everywhere else in the country, but it was never a very ruckus affair. A Christmas party here and there, maybe more but Ben never paid the holiday that much attention.
"And this one's for you, Mads." Ben pushed the wrapped gift across to his girlfriend.
Maddie eyed it suspiciously before giving it a little shake. "Hmm… I wonder what it is…"
Ben rolled his eyes. The woman could be such a kid when it came to Christmas presents. He'd actually gotten her gift back at the start of December but had to hide it at Helen's. The woman was relentless in her search of the house for Ben's hiding place.
Back before Ryn, they'd made something of a game out of it. If Maddie managed to find her present, they'd open gifts early. It hadn't taken Maddie long to figure out every single hiding place Ben could concoct. Ergo last resort, he hid the thing off the property.
"I love it!" Maddie held up the new leather jacket once she ripped the box open. Now Ryn could just have Maddie's other that she had unofficially claimed as hers. Ryn had her own clothes now, but that didn't stop her from raiding her mate's respective closets on a regular basis.
Such as right now, for instance. Ryn was currently snuggled into Maddie's side, wrapped in a new fleece blanket monogramed with Ben's initials. It was Maddie's gift to Ben, but his mermaid had coopted it at some point.
Honestly, Ben wasn't even upset. Ryn looked so comfortable and happy in that blanket and curled up with Maddie that he never would have dreamed refusing her. Getting that blanket back later might be difficult, though.
"Two for Ryn." Maddie pulled from under the tree two packages. They'd agreed beforehand that since it was Ryn's first Christmas, the mermaid didn't have to get Ben or Maddie anything. However, they hadn't agreed on the reverse.
Ryn took the first, Maddie's, and unceremoniously yanked the wrapping paper off. Within was a wooden sculpture of two mermaids. Ben had seen Maddie working on it numerous times, just as much she had him keep Ryn distracted to preserve the surprise. Carved into the base were two words.
Ryn and Donna.
While she couldn't read all that well yet, Ryn did know important names. Such as her own and that of her sister.
Ryn stared at the wood in her hand for what felt like an eternity, her face blank. Ben was starting to worry Maddie's gift might have been a mistake. The wound was old now and Ryn had time to recover, but nobody ever fully heals from losing a sibling.
"Thank you." Ben's fears vanished when Ryn clutched the sculpture protectively close.
"I'm glad you like it." Maddie leaned over to kiss her girlfriend on the crown of her head. "Next one is from Ben."
Taking the second gift, Ryn must have figured out this one was more fragile. It was a fraction of the weight and size. She tore the paper, but more carefully this time. Upon opening the tiny she found, she discovered a small heart shaped locket.
"I think it opens like this." Maddie hadn't a clue what Ben had gotten for their girlfriend, but she figured out how to work it quickly enough.
The locket opened to reveal two pictures. Maddie on one side, Ben on the other. Ben would have preferred to give Ryn a picture of Donna instead, but no such picture existed. This had been this best he could manage.
"I love it." Ryn repeated Maddie's words from a few minutes before. Without a word, she sat up to shift closer to Ben. Moving her hair out of the way, she waited.
Understanding what Ryn wanted, Ben took the locket and clicked the clasp into place around her neck. Once it was in place, she put a hand over top of the jewelry to press it into her chest, directly over her heart.
"Mer…" Maddie started but stopped short when she saw Ryn rising to her feet. "Where are you going?"
"Wait." Ryn said the one word, looking at Ben and Maddie in turn. In a flash, she was gone, having vanished into another room.
Maddie looked to Ben for an explanation but all he could offer was a shrug of the shoulders. He was every bit as clueless as she was.
The couple didn't have time to think further on the subject before Ryn returned. In her hands was another wrapped present, in paper neither Ben nor Maddie recognized. Whoever had done the wrapping had done a horribly poor job. It was as if it was done by…
Ryn, she'd wrapped it herself.
"This for Ben, Maddie, and Ryn." Ryn sat between her mates holding out the gift, almost nervously.
"You didn't have to get us anything, Ryn." Maddie made a gesture with her head toward Ben. Nodding in response, he took the gift and began to open it.
"I know." Ryn watched Ben like a hawk, features etched with anticipation.
Inside was yet another box, but its contents were even stranger. They resembled chunks of rock. There were three in total, each with a hole bored through and a string tied around it. Most of their surface was jagged but there were a few smooth parts. Picking one up, Ben found that they were not stone, at least none he knew. The material seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"Huh…" Maddie was just as stumped as Ben was when he handed her one. "What are they, Ryn?"
Ryn said nothing, but she took the three stones and began moving them about. While Ben and Maddie watched, the shards came together, somewhat sloppily because of the strings running through them.
Ryn struggled to find the proper way they fitted to each other, but she found it before long. She held up the true form of their gift for Ben and Maddie to see. It wasn't fully complete, chips and smaller chunks were missing, but the bulk of its structure was there. More than enough to make its identity unmistakable.
A pearl.
The fragments came together to form a single pearl the size of a quarter. When Ryn stopped holding them together, the slivers fell apart into individual pieces again.
"For Ben, Maddie, and Ryn." Ryn reiterated, holding up two of the necklaces while she left the third in her lap.
Ben was speechless, Maddie was able to talk but it took her a few moments to regain her composure.
"You went back to the water two weeks ago." Maddie was mentally assembling pieces of her own. "You said you'd be gone a little longer than normal, and you had Helen pick you up instead of us. You went to fetch this pearl, didn't you?"
"Yes." Ryn was honest. "Helen help make gift."
"Do you mind?" Maddie tilted her head and moved her hair in imitation of what Ryn had done for her locket. Rather then a chain and clasp, the pearl shards were on simple string. Ryn was able to put it over top of Maddie's head with no trouble.
Maddie was unable to stop smiling, her fingertips running over the rough edges of her pearl shard.
"Thank you, Ryn." Ben finally managed to find his voice once Ryn put his around his neck. She had already donned her own, the piece of pearl resting beside the locket Ben had given her. Leaning closer, he gave Ryn a quick kiss on the cheek./p
"Merry Christmas?" Ryn said cautiously, unsure if she was phrasing it right./p
Ben's lips lifted in a grin to match Maddie's. "Merry Christmas, Ryn."/p
This was going to be an addition to New Experiences, but since I decided to go back to doing one-shots, it found it's way here. Next up will probably be another chapter for Jaws of Madness. I think I'll alternate week to week. Jaws chapter next week, one shot the next, and so on.