This story takes place during my ongoing series "The Little Mouse Detective", at Christmastime, of course. Olivia and Fidget are not working on a mystery here; the focus is on how Olivia's Christmas is going to turn out. People seem to like the concept of the Flavershams spending Christmas with Basil and Dawson, but in this idea Olivia's not so sure that they'll be able to do it, because the detective and the doctor have been away (it's a GMD take on the classic "will they get home for Christmas" sort of storyline).
This story is written with Neverlandlover, who is a good fan of "The Little Mouse Detective", in mind (and no worries, I will get back to that one;).
The GMD characters featured belong to either Eve Titus, Disney, or both, and "2000 Miles" belongs to The Pretenders.
Olivia Flaversham was thankful, as she looked out her bedroom window on December 21st, 1897, that she would not have to worry about school over the Christmas hols. A sheet of snow had blanketed the street, and more was falling, though fortunately it was not yet so high that the mice of London were snowed in. She remembered two years before, when the snow had gotten so high that the mice could only leave and enter their homes through the second or third floors, and even then most who braved the snow chose to risk encountering the humans who lived in the larger areas of the houses, and pass through their doors.
Despite Olivia's general fondness for winter frolicking in the snow, it did not hold the same magic for her this time. The reason why started back in early November. Then, Basil of Baker Street had invited the Flavershams to spend Christmas at 221 Baker Street, after he and Hiram Flaversham had brought the subject of Christmas up during conversation. Naturally, considering it was Basil, it had been spur of the moment, and he'd not yet run it through with his landlady, Mrs. Judson, but the dear old woman had been more than delighted at the prospect once she'd heard of it, and instantly set about planning accommodations for the guests-to-be. Hiram, however, had not been so sure about the idea; he and Olivia usually spent Christmas with her godparents in Scotland. Basil had dismissed that as a cause for reluctance, and, after receiving their address, immediately informed Dr. Dawson to write out an invitation for the old couple. Mrs. Judson had been a little more put out this time, when word reached her, but nonetheless diligently started her planning ahead over from scratch.
It was supposed to be a surprise for Olivia, to be revealed near Winter Solstice, but she'd overheard while she and Fidget had been looking for a new case to take on, for Basil. Still, she never let it on, and with Fidget sworn to secrecy, and Olivia's good acting, nobody suspected anything.
The only problem was that Christmas, as it stood now, might end up being spent with Mrs. Judson, Fidget, Toby, and Olivia's godparents, but no Basil or Dawson. As it turned out, on the eighteenth of December, the detective and his assistant had been called away to Sheffield to work on a murder that had taken place, and while she knew full well that Basil was extremely clever, and could possibly solve the whole mystery in under a day if the circumstances were right, the trip there, the solving of the mystery, and the trip back might take them longer than the 25th.
This had kept her very unsettled the past fortnight, though she'd masked it as best as she could until Hiram had "revealed" the surprise to her. Then, of course, she could finally let her concerns out in the open. Hiram had tried his best, for his daughter's sake, to reassure her that of course, the two gentlemen would be back in time, but even he had his doubts.
Olivia dressed, and made downstairs to breakfast. Her father had prepared wheat porridge for the two of them, and as he always did during the time of Yuletide, he had sprinkled half a pinch of nutmeg over each dish. It was Olivia's favourite spice*; she loved everything about it, from its aroma to its taste - at least when sprinkled over food. She did her best to smile about it, but the thought of her prospective "perfect Christmas" not being so perfect was about fifty pounds more weight than her cheerfulness could carry.
"Olivia, is everything alright?" Hiram asked as his daughter stared at the bowl.
Olivia didn't answer at first - looking at the porridge she was envisioning playing in the snow, accompanied by Basil, Dawson, Judson, Fidget, her godparents, and her father. When she registered her father's question, she looked up. "Oh, I guess so, Daddy." She looked down again for a moment, then looked up. "Daddy, there is still enough time for Mr. Basil and Dr. Dawson to get back, isn't there?"
Hiram hesitated. This question had surfaced yet again. "I, I'm… I wouldn't be too surprised if they could be back for Christmas, Olivia. They will be going by train, after all, and Sheffield is not that far away."
"I hope so," Olivia mumbled in reply, then stared down at her porridge again. No word had reached them if Basil and Dawson's job in Sheffield was finished or not, but she hoped it was, or would be soon. Her optimistic side kept focusing on how much fun it would be when, after the gift receiving beneath the Christmas tree, breakfast, and a romp in the snow together, all could sit by the fire in the living room and listen to the detective and the doctor tell of their case, and how they'd come to untangle the web it had woven. Her pessimistic side had been arguing that something would come along to prevent this from being the way things worked out; a snow-in, or the case being more complicated than the majority of Basil's cases, or even worse… something happening to Basil and/or Dawson…
He's gone,
2000 miles,
Is very far,
The snows falling down,
It's colder day by day.
I miss you.
The children were singing,
He'll be back at Christmas time.
Seeing that Olivia was in one of her bouts of sighing, as she usually did when depressed, Hiram thought of something to take her mind off her troubles. "Ach, I say Olivia!" He said in a loud, bright manner that caught her attention. "How about we, after we've finished our breakfast, go out and meet up with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Angus?"
Well, that did the trick. "And Mrs. Judson, and Fidget, Daddy?"
"Certainly!" Hiram smiled.
"Oh, thank you, Daddy!" Olivia at once dove into her porridge with gusto, and Hiram had to chuckle.
/
Jennifer and Angus Mousewing had arrived in London the day before, and had been met by Mrs. Judson at the train station. Although they'd offered to book in at an inn, to save her trouble, Judson would have none of it, and insisted that she'd already prepared their room at Baker Street (which tided well with them deep down, of course). Today, Jenny had helped Mrs. Judson to clear the dishes from breakfast, and the three were sitting in the living room, sharing stories of past Christmases, when Hiram and Olivia arrived by carriage.
They hopped off of the carriage step outside their destination, and headed up towards the door. The area outside had been shovelled; Olivia guessed Fidget had done the work. She assumed he'd retired for the day, since it was after 10 o'clock, so did not expect what happened as Hiram knocked on the door. At that moment, from over their heads, she heard a whooshing sound, and suddenly felt herself grabbed by a cloaked figure with wings.
"Gotcha!"
Olivia shrieked out of surprise, and Hiram nearly dropped the parcels he was holding. Mrs. Judson opened the door with alarm, accompanied by Olivia's frightened godparents, but the adult mice sighed after a puzzled second when Olivia and her "captor" had started laughing.
"Fidget, you know you shouldn't have done that!" Olivia protested. "Now you've scared everybody!"
"Meh, wouldn't be the first time!" Fidget grinned nonchalantly.
"Olivia, darling!" Aunt Jenny exclaimed, and Olivia then ran to greet them. The Flavershams were invited to come inside, and Mrs. Judson went into the kitchen to make hot cocoa for everyone, while Olivia and her father got caught up on things with Jenny and Angus. Fidget was helping Mrs. Judson, though he wished those friendly updates would finish so he and Olivia could play. The fact that it was after ten, when he normally went to sleep, didn't matter to him. Since his father's death years before, when he'd begun working for Professor Ratigan, this was the first time Christmas was going to be any real fun for him, and a good part of this was because Olivia, his best friend, was going to be there.
After hot cocoa had been distributed and consumed, and Olivia finally had a moment for Fidget, the bat had much to tell her. She inquired about how his flight practice* was going, and he was proud to say he'd worked up to half an hour at a moderate pace already. It pleased her to see how simply ecstatic he was; it was a tearful concept, for a bat to have lost flight at age six, when he'd only begun acquiring it a few years before, then to be told he'd likely never fly again, and then suddenly, after Dr. Dawson had examined his broken wing, found out it was not so hopeless as that.
Fidget was also pleased about how well his circle of acquaintances of his sort was forming. He'd even begun attending the night services held by the bats at the Church in their district - he was intrigued by their extreme fondness at Advent for the hymn "Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel".*
Olivia then told Fidget about how things were keeping with herself and her father - Hiram's business had jumped as it always did at Christmastime, especially in the last few days leading up to it, and often, since she did not have school to worry about, she would help him wrap gift orders for customers; she thought she was becoming rather good at artistic gift wrapping. "But you can see that in our presents to everyone, on Christmas. I wrapped the one for Mr. Basil, and for Dr. Dawson, and my one for you, and the one for Aunt Jenny and Uncle Angus!" Then Olivia's excitement fell as she remembered, upon mentioning the older sleuthing team, that they might not be there on that important day.
"Something wrong, Livy?" Fidget frowned.
"Oh, I was just thinking, do you suppose Basil and Dr. Dawson can get back in four days?"
"That's what's got you down?" Fidget's concerned frown turned into a look of "get real". "Of course they can! How long does it take to get from here to… they went to Westfield, right?"
"Sheffield," Olivia absentmindedly corrected him. "It's just that nobody's heard any word of them - if they've solved that case or not. And I'm worried."
"Well, well…" Fidget tried to think of something to say. "Well don't worry!" He had to become better at this.
"I can't help it!" Olivia said. "What if it's been snowing very hard in Sheffield, and they're stuck there for days? What if Basil is sick, or what if Dr. Dawson is? What if they've been kidnapped, or even… or even killed!"
"Why can't she think of these sorts of things whenever she decides to take a case?" Fidget thought as he listened to Olivia rant.
"Nah, I doubt any of that's happened. They'll be fine!" Now he waited to see if she was comforted or not.
"Fidget!" Olivia was serious. "If they're alright, why hasn't anything been said about them? The papers should have said if the case was solved by now!"
"Then maybe they haven't solved it?"
"This is Basil of Baker Street, and Dr. Dawson we're talking about!"
"And even they aren't immortal! Not even Basil can solve everything with a snap of the fingers," Fidget snapped his to make his point. "If no one's said anything about them, can't you just assume nothing worth writing about's happened yet?"
"That still means they might be delayed by-"
"And four days is still enough time for whatever's wrong, if something's wrong, to get figured out! So don't worry!"
"Is everything alright?" Mrs. Judson looked into the hall, where the two were, through the kitchen door with concern.
"We're fine," Olivia sighed.
Mrs. Judson looked unsurely at them. "Fidget, it is past noon. I think you'd better get some sleep. I can take care of the rest of the work till evening, you know."
"Yes ma'am," Fidget submitted, and got up to make for his closet.
"Fidget, I'm sorry," Olivia apologized. "I didn't mean to get so cross with you."
Fidget thought he was the one who'd gotten cross, not Olivia - she was just scared for Basil and Dawson. Although he didn't see the need to worry - he'd encountered Basil enough times in the past, even before he'd given up crime, to know that the detective could more than handle himself, and together with Dr. Dawson as he'd been for the past half-year, quite a formidable crime-fighting team was formed. However, the more he thought about it, the more he decided it must just be that Olivia looked up to Basil so much, and cared deeply for him. Dawson too. Plus, she'd had her heart set on spending Christmas with them ever since she'd first overheard the concept.
"S'alright, Livy. I'll bet they're fine." He smiled, then went into the closet and pulled the door to. Olivia knew he'd be changing into his pajamas, which he kept atop the shelf in there, so although he'd nearly closed the door, she got up and rejoined the adults in the living room. There, Uncle Angus suggested they all go outside and make merry in the snow. Everyone agreed, and so all bundled up in their coats, hats, mittens or gloves, and scarves, and headed out.
Olivia looked around at the newly fallen snow - it hadn't taken very long to undo all of Fidget's hard work. But for now that was alright - they were going to have fun! Well, she would try to at least.
First came a snowball fight - Olivia, Aunt Jenny and Mrs. Judson versus Hiram and Angus. Nobody kept score, however; it was just for fun. When they had tired of that, they began working on snowmice. Hiram and Mrs. Judson made a standard snow mouse, while Angus and Jenny made ones that were supposed to represent each other. Olivia helped to decorate the snowmice, with coal for eyes and mouths, sticks for arms, and butcher's string for tails.
"Those are nice snowmice, wouldn't you say?" asked Hiram when they were finished.
"Ach yes, very fine snowmice!" Uncle Angus said.
"Daddy, can we make a snow-Basil and a snow-Dr. Dawson?" Olivia piped up.
Hiram looked at the hopeful expression on his daughter's face. Well, he couldn't expect her to completely expunge them from her mind till Christmas, and making replicas of them seemed harmless enough. "Alright dear," he agreed.
When they'd completed the frosty images of the detective and the doctor, Olivia giggled. "The only thing missing is Mr. Basil's pipe!" But she knew without any telling that it wouldn't be right to use one of Basil's pipes without permission, and so said nothing further on it.
That evening, Mrs. Judson watched as Olivia stared out the window at the snowmice. Hiram had told her about Olivia's deep-seeded fears for the gentlemen's sake, and she wondered if there was any way she could cheer her up.
"Olivia dear," she called. Olivia looked round at her. "How would you like to help me brandy the cake?"
"Oh, really Mrs. Judson?" Olivia smiled. "Thank you!" She had never poured brandy on a Christmas cake before; she would love to contribute. Still, she stole one more glance at the snow-Basil and snow-Dawson before joining the landlady.
And these frozen and silent nights,
Sometimes in a dream,
You appear.
Outside under the purple sky,
Diamonds in the snow,
Sparkle.
Our hearts were singing,
It felt like Christmas time.
Mrs. Judson showed Olivia the Christmas cake, and demonstrated to her how to take a tablespoon of brandy and pour it over top, to give it flavour in time for Christmas. Then she filled the spoon with the liquor, and allowed Olivia to do the job.
Olivia felt more grownup after contributing to the cake in this manner, and so felt a little bit better going home with her father afterwards.
/
When Christmas Eve arrived, Olivia and Hiram gathered up all the things they would need to spend Christmas at Baker Street. It was lucky that Hiram had thought to bring their gifts over ahead of time, to make things easier.
Olivia carried in a paper bag a few tree ornaments she had made out of cardboard and paper, among a few scrap materials from her father's work. She looked forward to seeing the tree the next morning, with her decorations amongst the others, but she still felt sad. Only one day left, and those two important mice still hadn't returned!
2000 miles.
Is very far through the snow
I'll think of you
Wherever you go.
The Flavershams were welcomed in with arms wide open. No sooner had they removed their coats and Mrs. Judson gathered their belongings to take to their rooms, than she turned to Olivia and said, "Oh, and Olivia, Fidget has something to tell you, that I think you'll be quite pleased to hear!"
Curious, Olivia went to find Fidget. He had just finished tossing out the water from the basin for floor cleaning - after an incident involving the floor, a few months prior, Mrs. Judson still wouldn't let him do any more floor cleaning-related work than that* - as she came across him.
"Happy Christmas, Fidget!" Olivia smiled.
"Oh?" He looked up from the basin. "Happy Christmas - but I thought it's tomorrow?"
Looking at his expression, Olivia replied, "Yes Fidget, you didn't oversleep!"
"Phew!" he sighed with relief; these festivities were throwing him more than a little out of whack. Then he remembered. "Livy. Did you hear?"
"Did I hear what?"
"Good, I thought I should be the guy who tells you this. The London Mouse says Basil and Dawson's case is over!" He fished in the pocket in his wing, and showed the article to her.
Olivia gasped. "Then - then do you think?" She couldn't believe it. Her anxiety had reached its peak when, for the last two days, the papers failed to deliver in her neighbourhood. How fortunate that they'd reached Baker Street! "Oh Fidget!" Olivia grabbed him and kissed him on the cheek, then swept the article from his hand. "I've got to show this to Daddy!" She scurried away and left the blushing bat.
"Ah, there it is, Olivia!" Hiram exclaimed when he'd read the article. "Did I not tell you the detective and the doctor are right unstoppable?" He winked at her, and she laughed.
Suddenly everything was ten shades brighter for Olivia. Now she once more wanted to do fun things with full enthusiasm. She asked Hiram if she could go skating with Fidget on the Thames for a while - Toby could take them - and he told her she could.
Fidget liked the idea of going on a ride with Olivia, but wasn't sure about the skating part. "How am I gonna skate with this?" he asked as he motioned down the length of the leg which was half wood.
"Don't worry, about that, Fidget. Remember when Daddy asked to measure your peg?"
"Uh huh?"
"That was because of this!" She presented him with a peg like his for the most part, except it also had a blade attached at the base. Fidget stared at it.
"My gosh, I - I, well! How about that!" He took it from her hands and looked it over. "That's amazing! It looks just like a skate!"
"Hahaha, and here's something to go with it!" Olivia procured from behind her back a skating boot made of black leather. Fidget was pleased, to say the very least. "Now come on," Olivia encouraged, picking up her own white skates, "let's go to the Thames, and maybe, just maybe, Basil and Dr. Dawson will be back when we're done!"
Joining her, Fidget thought to himself, "Ah, what the heck! At least I'm not staying up late coz of work!"
He's gone,
2000 miles,
Is very far.
The snows falling down,
It's colder day by day.
I miss you.
At the River Thames, things were very busy. Many mice were skating around the edges (out of the way of the humans skating further out) plus some rats here and there, and a few young bat couples on late-day jaunts together. Most of the time these species would have kept to themselves, but it seemed as if in the spirit of the ever-special time known as Yuletide, they didn't mind brushing into each other periodically. For this reason, nobody noticed, not with care at any rate, the little mouse playing with the young bat.
"Watch me, Fidget!" Olivia called as she etched a figure 8 into the ice with her skates.
"Heheheh, well done! But watch this!" he grinned as he flew up into the air, then landed on the ice in what was meant to be a graceful, dramatic slide, but ended up being a clumsy, comical crash.
"Are you okay?" Olivia skated over to his side.
"Heh, guess I'm not used to this yet!" Fidget picked himself up and went to try again. No quitter him, that was the truth.
They skated for a long time, it seemed, then decided they should be getting back. As Toby carried them through the streets of London once more, they overheard people cheerfully singing Christmas carols - among them "Silent Night", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", and "Sussex Carol".
I can hear people singing,
It must be Christmas time.
Olivia hoped she could go carolling with the grownups tonight. Then Toby stopped outside 221 Baker Street and wagged his tail, barking happily at something. Olivia wondered what, until she heard a familiar voice saying, "What-ho Toby! And Happy Christmas!"
The speaker then looked up to see an excited little girl in a tam o'shanter and blue coat peering over the bassett hound's head, delightedly crying, "Mr. Basil!" She then jumped down from Toby and into the detective's waiting arms. "Oh, Mr. Basil!" she smiled, "and Dr. Dawson!" She got down and ran over to hug the older mouse. "I'm so happy! I thought you weren't going to make it back!"
"What's this? Not be home to spend Christmas with our friends? Oh no, quite out of the question!" Basil announced.
"Oh, that reminds me!" Olivia said, running over to them. "Do you like the snowmice we made? These two are you!"
"Oh my," said Dr. Dawson. "Very charming, right Basil?"
"Hmmm, not bad at all, but there is still something lacking." He scratched his chin for a moment, then raised a finger as he announced, "And I know exactly what!" Without warning he dashed into his abode, then came back seconds later carrying something in his hand. "I daresay this was the only thing missing, right Miss Flambammer?"
Olivia giggled. Basil had installed one of his pipes into the mouth of the snow-Basil. Then everyone went inside, eager to reconnect and celebrate the most wonderful time of the year, together.
I hear people singing,
It must be Christmas time.
The end.
AN: For such a long one-shot, and considering the hustle and bustle at home with everyone rushing to get things done on time, I'd say I got this done in record time, having started yesterday afternoon! And yes, those asterisks will not go unaccounted for:
1. I thought of nutmeg as Olivia's favourite spice because it is one of my favourites, and also my mother's.
2. In the comic "The Case of the Sideshow Sea Beast", Olivia mentions at one point that Fidget has regained the ability to fly. As it happens, I'm working on my interpretation of how that came to be in the next chapter of "The Little Mouse Detective", though I have mentioned here that Dr. Dawson has something to do with it.
3. At the start of Advent, my Church sang this as the offertory hymn, and for some reason I can't explain, I was picturing the entire congregation as bats. I knew I had to work this concept in at some point.
4. To read about that incident, see the beginning of chapter 2 of "The Little Mouse Detective".
Merry Christmas, everyone!