Spilt Sugar

"Hey! Hey, Nubian Princess! Over here!"

Original Cindy turned and glared at the man she had to call boss as he tried to wave her over. As to why he wanted her attention, she didn't know, but if it wasn't good, she was about to cuss him out for making her get up on her break.

"That's right sass mouth, over here." He said, his nose diving back into more paper work and packages she didn't much care about.

"What?" she asked, leaning against the counter. She rolled her eyes at Sketchy as he tried to ask her what was going on. Folding her arms, she looked at Normal again, who had just resurfaced.

"Your roommate got some mail." He said, handing her a thick envelope. "Speaking of that particular fireball, she hasn't shown up for work yet. I let you all off on Christmas, you'd think you'd all have the decency to show up New Years Eve for a few hours!" the man said, his voice rising during the last sentence. His outburst was promptly forgotten.

"You, Normal, should jus' be happy the ones tha' showed are actually stayin'!" Cindy returned before she left him to his piles of work and access packages.

"What's that?" Sketchy asked pointing a glove clad hand at the envelope in her hand. How he managed to put on two pairs of thick gloves and still grip his drink, she didn't know.

It must be a white boy thing. She thought, rolling her eyes at his question and her thought. No, it's most definitely jus' a Sketchy thing.

"I don't know, it's for Max," she said, emphasizing her point by showing her neatly scrawled name on the front. "an' I ain't no letter snooper, so Original Cindy is gonna leave it alone and give it to her when she gets home. Now, no more questions about it, aiight?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Sketchy said, picking the package up gently and weighing it in his hands. "Hey…" He said. "Where is Max anyways?"

"That looks good, Josh!" Max said, ruffling the dog man's head affectionately. He was half way done painting an entire wall within Terminal City's new computer room, and she had to admit, it was coming out nicely.

"That is does doggie boy." Alec said, throwing a slow punch into Joshua's arm. Turning to Max, he smiled. "And a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's to you." Leaning into her ear, he whispered, "I need you for a second."

Nodding, she looked back at Joshua to see him immersed in his mural again. Running a hand down his large arm, she gave him a quiet farewell, one that he returned with a bark and growl, and followed Alec out of the room. He managed to lead her down a hall that seemed to be drowning in tinsel before she asked what he wanted.

"Oh, it's nothing special…" he said, giving an over dramatic shrug. "But, you missed out on Christmas dinner, so…"

Opening one of the double doors to what they had made into their mess hall, he let her through first. On the center table, which looked to be the only one left in the room, sat a plate full of steaming macaroni and cheese, hot dog chunks and all, with a bottle of ketchup beside it. She couldn't help but laugh as Alec linked their elbows and walked her to the table, elaborately pulled out a seat for her, and then sat down across from her.

"You're ridiculous." She said laughing some more as his face fell.

"Oh, how you try to wound me." He said dryly, holding a hand to his heart. The other slowly reached down and came back up with a dusty looking bottle, half filled with a dark red liquid. Grabbing two glasses that she had not seen before, he poured them each a glass.

"Now, don't drink that too quickly, mon plus cherie, this is the hard stuff." He said, and she couldn't help but snort at his horrible French grammar, and even worse fake accent. (My dearest.)

Taking a mouthful of the food, she smiled. Joshua really was quite the cook. A sip of the wine proved Alec's warning; it was strong. But honestly, who had ever heard of an X5 getting drunk?

"What's all this for? It's almost the beginning of the new year and we're still celebrating Christmas?" she asked, eating another few mouthfuls before Alec spoke up from his wine tasting.

"You weren't here." He said simply. "So, we decided that today would be your special little day." Nodding, he added ruefully, "I knew you'd want your own day. Always the diva…"

That comment received a swift kick to the shin.

Slowly cracking the door open she saw that only the Christmas lights were on. Original Cindy had gone to bed hours ago, she was sure, and she didn't want to wake her by turning on anything.

Walking her motorcycle in as quietly as she could, she rested it against the wall. Turning back to close the door, since she didn't want to risk it slamming if she kicked it closed like she normally did, she noticed a fat envelope on the table. Picking it up as she went, she read her name on the front, Jam Pony's address, and a distorted 'Fragile' stamp on the front, somewhat under her name.

Quickly checking to make sure that her roommate really was asleep, she went to her own room and sat down at the windowsill.

Dinner had been great, even with Alec's antics. The food was great, the wine was good, and Alec had even gotten her off her feet and they shared a dance or two. She knew how weird it was, him going out of his way, her letting him drag her around without a protest half the time… but, it was a nice change.

Even if his eyes let on that he knew something he shouldn't.

Looking down at the letter, she traced her name with her fingers before flipping over the package and ripping it open. Setting it on her lap, she slowly took out a ripped map. It was a map of New York, what she was sure their next destination would be. Setting it down beside her, she picked out another map, this one an expanded view of part of the city. An entire block was underlined in red. Another, three blocks away was done in blue.

Red meant the place of the dilapidated home that they would be staying in during emergencies. Blue meant the place of the actual home.

On the back was the mailing address of the home in code. Dashes and dots not different from Morse code, but not the same at all. She quickly memorized it, in case she needed it later.

As to how the man had these many homes, she didn't know. But she did know that she appreciated it, even if he was being troublesome, coming back into the States.

Taking another piece of paper from the envelope, she found it was a letter, addressed to her.

Max,

We had a really great Christmas. You should've been here! We went to town and bought a little turkey, and Lydecker, not knowing how to cook, nearly burnt it all the way through! It was hilarious!

Are you sure you're not related? You both have the same cooking skills…

At that she cringed, but laughed quietly nonetheless.

I managed to save some of it though, and what we lacked in turkey, I made up for with rice and vegetables. It was a good thing for both of us that I know how to cook. And after, we had some pumpkin pie! I don't know where he found it, or how he knew I liked it, but it was awesome!

Here, it looked like he accidentally smudged some pie on the paper, since a Sorry!, was scrawled quickly in the corner, an arrow pointing at the offending orange smudge.

Anyways, I really wish you were here; or at least having a good Christmas back in Seattle.

Love,

Raymond White.

P.S.

Please tell Original Cindy that I miss her, and love her. Tell Alec that I still laugh whenever I hear someone speak French, and that I'll never be able to properly speak the language because his awful accent is still influencing me. Oh, and don't forget to tell Logan that I still hate him for trying to send me off to Paraguay or whatever other third world, civil war ridden, dumb ass country/island he wanted to send me off to.

P.P.S

Lydecker says hi, and to watch over your shoulder, mind your training, and all that other paranoid crap he seems to start spewing whenever I start one of these things…

Smiling to herself, she hid the letter away in her dresser, and shredded the maps. Lying herself down in her bed, for the first time in the past month, she fell asleep smiling.

Skidding past a taxi cab, she finally got to her favourite coffee shop. Getting off her bicycle, she walked it inside and sat it against a wall, sitting at her usual table right beside it. A waitress waved at her, already knowing her usual order of black coffee with one cream and two packets of sugar on the side. Getting comfy, she was a little startled when someone sat in front of her.

She had no doubt who it was, as it was hard to mistake the suit and tie, and the standard black government issued gun at his side, but the fact that he was sitting with her and not putting the aforementioned gun to her head threw her off a little.

But then again, she probably shocked him a few nights back as well.

When the waitress came back with her order, and he waved her away from asking for his, she decided to start the upcoming conversation.

"Why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

She quirked her eyebrow and decided to play tough. "It's a shame I asked you first then."

"Cute 452, cute." He drawled, picking up her coffee and taking a sip. She scowled.

"That was mine, I hope you know."

He waved it off. "It's all unimportant." Grabbing her creamer, he opened it and threw the half ounce of cream in.

Opening one of the sugar packets, she asked again, "Why are you here?"

"You weren't lying to me." He said into the cup of coffee, not moving his eyes from the sugar she spilt onto the table. "They're there."

"They won't be for long…" she trailed off, slowly drifting her index finger through the sugar crystals. "They should be moving south by now, if I know Lydecker's paranoia."

"Where are they going?" he asked, putting down the cup and looking at her downward eyes.

"Why didn't you take him?" she asked, looking up at him. He had the perfect opportunity to get his son back, yet, she knew he hadn't. He asked where they were going, not if Lydecker had survived his beating or not.

He took another sip of the still steaming coffee before giving her a lazy answer. "There was no point." When she looked at him and raised an eyebrow, he elaborated. "He's safe, happy even. Why bring him back into a brewing war?"

"You feel it too." She said, drawing in the sugar some more. At his nod, she gave him his answer. "It's not that hard to find. New York, dirtiest, oldest street you can find. I could write it down, but we don't need that information getting out."

At his nod, she went back to drawing. The silence wasn't daunting, awkward or nerve racking. She never thought that it could be so easy to sit within arms distance of the man that had been trying to kill her over the past several months.

If only Zack could see her now, fraternizing with the enemy. Letting her guard down, giving him information. He'd have a conniption.

A few minutes later, White stood from his seat, the coffee half done. Sugar crystals were sprawled across the table, some stuck in little drops of cream that didn't quite make it into the mug. She stood as well, grabbing her bike from the wall. Dropping what she owed on the table, and a generous tip, she left the café, and he followed. She stopped when they entered a dark alley, and turned to him.

"Are you ever going to swoop in and get your son?" she asked, and surprisingly, he smirked.

"I suppose I can trust your judgement, as long as he stays safe." He said, looking down at her. "For now."

Her fingers tingled with the need to scratch that infuriating smirk off his face, but she knew he'd dodge any attempt she made. Why waste good energy when one already knew what would happen?

Hooking a finger under her chin, he tipped her head up and planted a soft kiss on her cheek, whispering, "Happy New Years." in her ear. With that, he quickly turned and left, leaving her standing there, a smirk slowly stretching across her face.

The End.

Here you go, a second little Holiday One Shot! I hope you all liked it as much as you liked the second.

-K