Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Author's Note: This is from The Twelve Days of Christmas. This is the first in a series of one-shots for Christmas. You don't have to read them all to understand it. But each is based off of a verse in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, so the first will have A Partridge in a Pear Tree in the story somewhere and so forth for the rest.
On the Fourth Day of Christmas
Syd picked up her earrings and held them next to her, she tilted her head this way and that to see if they would look good with what she was wearing. Sighing she set them back down and picked up another one. As she looked in the mirror she realized that it was the perfect set that she would need. Quickly she put them on and then stepped back. The dress fell to just below her knees, it swirled out when she moved, which was perfect. Instead of her usual pink she had decided to go more with the Holiday colors so her dress was red with green trim. The earrings she had chosen were those colors and were in the shape of little Christmas packages.
Smiling she turned back to the bed and grabbed her purse. She knew that Bridge was ready; he was just waiting for her. She moved out of their room and saw Bridge standing across the hall from her.
He looked at her, "Wow Syd, you look…you're beautiful. Though it's not to say you aren't always beautiful, but it's just your outfit and the way…though you're beautiful every day, so wouldn't saying that you're beautiful now be more like saying you aren't at other times? Perhaps—"
"Bridge, a compliment is nice and I won't think that way you're worried about it."
He grinned and leaned in and the two shared a kiss. He took her hand and the two walked down the stairs. "Is the Mariec here already?"
"Yep. She's in the living room with Tiana."
Nodding Syd and Bridge moved to the living room. Mariec was sitting on the floor playing with their three year old daughter, Tiana. Syd quickly found their other two, Jess and Brian in the playpen.
Mariec stood up, "Is there bed time the same time?"
Syd nodded, "Yes, though be careful of Brian, he's been having a hard time falling asleep at night."
Bridge had leaned over and picked up Tiana, "Are you going to listen to Mariec and help her take care of Jessenia and Brian?"
She nodded, "Yes. And we're going to play dress up."
Syd smiled at her and then turned back to Mariec, "Everything is in the same spot and you have the hotel's number where the party is going to be."
"Yes. Of course. Tiana and I will have quite a fun time. And Jessenia and Brian will be fine. You two have fun."
She smiled and then went over and kissed her two youngest, "You be good. I love you." Turning around Bridge handed her Tiana while he leaned down to say goodbye to Jessenia and Brian. Tiana was very careful when she hugged Syd and when they pulled slightly back she saw Tiana smile and gently touch Syd's hair.
"Mommy your hair is so pretty. I want it too."
Syd smiled, "Perhaps we can do your hair like this tomorrow? Shall we try?"
Tiana nodded her little blonde curls bouncing a bit. Syd kissed Tiana on the forehead and set her back down next to Mariec and then she and Bridge were out the door.
"Are we leaving too late?" Syd asked as Bridge helped her into the car.
"We're fine Syd, don't worry."
He shut the door and went over and got in on his side. They were soon heading down the street. They were heading to a benefit that Jack and Ally had put together. It was to help the poor on Christmas. They had already pulled together a lot of money from the ticket sales but they were hoping that they could get more from donations. It was closer to Christmas then Syd thought it should be to throw something like this however Jack had explained that sometimes more people gave the closer it got to Christmas.
Syd wasn't sure but she wasn't going to argue with him. After all he and Ally had been doing this longer. She was just worried then even if they raised quite a bit people wouldn't be able to get the stuff in time. She really shouldn't worry though; there were two weeks before Christmas and next week Hanukkah started. She still had to finish getting things for that as well.
It wasn't long before Bridge pulled into the parking lot. The building was huge with four domes on top of the building. On each of those domes was a bird and they were all facing each other, hence the name of the building, Four Calling Birds. Whoever had come up with that did have the original name down, although Syd thought it was too…odd, but it worked. People loved going to the building to have events hosted there, whether it was dinners, dancing or plays.
Bridge and Syd pulled up and a valet came and drove off with the car after Bridge helped Syd out of it. Together the two went into the building. As soon as they stepped into the banquet hall where the dinner was being had Syd felt as though she was stepping into a winter wonderland.
There were thousands of snowflakes falling down from the ceiling glittering. The circular tables which held about 12 people all had white tablecloths on them. The chairs surrounding the tables were a glistening white. The walls were already white and yet there was a certain gleam to them. It was all really quite beautiful.
Bridge and Syd were lead over to one of the tables passing by an open area that Syd was sure was for dancing. There was Christmas music playing softly in the background. Sky, Z, Jack and Ally were all already at the table they were lead to. There was also Mr. Samuels, his wife and a few other people there. Instead of the twelve spots this table held sixteen.
"Bridge, Syd. I'm glad you guys made it." Ally said.
Everyone said their hello's as Bridge and Syd sat down. Syd looked up and noticed that from where she was sitting it looked like snow falling in the clear evening or a very early morning. "This is really beautiful, this whole set up."
"Thanks," Ally said, "though we can't take credit for decorating it. We told them it was a Christmas benefit dinner and they took care of the rest."
Z leaned forward, "Still Syd is right, it is really beautiful."
Mr. Samuels nodded, "Yes it is." He then turned to his daughter, "Though you may not have physically decorated you did come up with the idea." Looking towards Z and Syd he smiled, "Ally told them it was a Christmas benefit dinner and that she wanted a winter wonderland."
Syd smiled, "She definitely succeeded on that account."
It turned out that two of the other men where members of the board in Mr. Samuels company. The other two people were from two of the organizations that Jack and Ally were helping get money for. All of them had their spouse with them.
Soon enough they were served their meals. The first was a simple green salad. The second course consisted of broiled chicken with potatoes and asparagus. When dessert came, which was a simple chocolate cake the soft Christmas music melted into louder music. Turning Syd saw that a live band now sat on the other side of the room playing music.
Mr. Samuels stood up and held his hand out to his wife, "Would you care to join me for this dance?"
"I'd be delighted."
And he helped her from her seat and the two moved onto the dance floor. It wasn't long before Bridge reached under the table and took her hand, "Do you want to dance?"
Smiling she nodded, "I would love to."
Bridge grinned and helped her from her seat and the two followed the suit of not only Mr. Samuels and his wife but also many others who were now on the dance floor. It was a slow song so Bridge pulled Syd into his arms.
Dancing with Bridge was different then the times she had danced professional. He wasn't a dancer. It's not to say he couldn't dance; the dances that he knew he had learned from his Mother. Slow dancing with Bridge was very simple, it was moving from side to side. And truth be told she didn't mind it so much, in fact she rather liked it, but she wondered if it was because it was Bridge.
As they moved around she noticed a woman who just had come in with the oddest hat, there were Three French Hens atop it.
"Bridge, look at the woman's hat who just walked in the door."
"Are those…birds?"
"Yes, I haven't seen a hat like that since I was a little girl."
"I've never seen a hat like that."
Syd shrugged, "It belonged to one of my Mother's friends'. At least she would come over ever so often. She had the oddest hats, sometimes I wondered if she would just turn in a circle and point to something and no matter what that's what ended up on the hat."
"Maybe that's the same lady."
Syd looked over at the woman, "I don't think it is. After all that was years ago. Why now?"
"Why not now?"
Syd looked over at the woman again, "I'm not sure it is her and I don't want to go over there and ask if she happened to come over to my house when I was little."
Bridge looked in Syd's eyes and then nodded, "Alright. I understand."
"It wouldn't be a big deal if I went and asked but…I'm just not going to. I'm pretty certain it's not the same one."
Nodding Bridge looked around the room, "You're right it really does look like it's snowing. Even the ceiling looks like it could be the night sky."
"It really does. We should do something like this for our house."
"It's almost Christmas time and we decorated the house already."
"Bridge, don't you think it would be really perfect if we could do this."
"It would but why not wait until next year? Tiana will be older and I think she'd have fun in helping you decorate for that."
Syd thought about that. Tiana was three right now but next year she would be four. Tiana had helped with some of the decorating in their house this year, but if they cut up snowflakes and put glitter on them…Tiana would love that. She nodded, "You're right, Tiana would love doing that. We'll wait and then next year we can have our own winter wonderland. Besides I think Tiana would be disappointed if we took down all that we put up."
Bridge nodded thoughtfully, "You are right about that."
He leaned down and their lips met. The kiss was slow at first but then became more heated. Slowly Bridge pulled away and smiled at Syd. They continued their dance before leaving the floor.
They walked over to where Jack and Ally were talking to an older man. After Jack shook his head the man walked away.
Jack smiled at them, "How are you two doing?"
"Great Jack," Bridge said, "You guys did really good."
Nodding Syd looked around again, "Was it successful?"
Bridge and Syd had already given a contribution to Jack and Ally. Ally nodded, "I would say a definite success. Though starting tomorrow we have a lot to do before Christmas."
Jack looked at Ally before nodding, "I know, but it'll be worth it."
"Definitely."
Syd looked around the room again, "Did Sky and Z already leave?"
"Yeah, their babysitter called and said that Sarah was sick." Jack said.
"Poor Sarah." Syd murmured.
"We have to get going as well," Bridge said looking at his watch, "Our babysitter can only be there so long."
"Right." Jack grinned, "I'll see you guys later."
"Bye."
It didn't take long for Bridge and Syd to make it home, the route they choose seemed to be free of most traffic. They got inside their house and found Mariec sitting on the couch reading. She looked up as they came in the room.
"You have returned. Very good."
Bridge nodded, "How were they?"
"Ah, you know. Tiana went to be quite easily. As did Jessenia. Brian needed some coxing to fall asleep. I had to walk around for a while with him."
"As usual."
"Thank you very much Mariec." Syd said before heading to the stairs, "I'll see you later."
Syd left Bridge to handle paying Mariec while she went to check on their kids. She opened the door to Tiana's room; the three year old was sleeping peacefully in her bed under her pink comforter. The next place she checked was on her one year old Jessenia who also was asleep under her green blanket.
Brian was the last she checked on, he was in his crib fast asleep. The blanket had come off of him so Syd moved it back into place. She looked back and saw that Bridge was standing in the doorway smiling. Syd turned and the two went to their room.
After Bridge had gotten changed he sat on the end of the bed. Syd was in the closet putting away her dress when he started to talk, "I was thinking we could watch something…I mean you know a movie or something. Do you want to?"
"Sounds like fun. Did you have something in mind?"
"Not really. We should watch a Christmas movie. Although we always watch Christmas movies at this time…not that there's anything wrong with watching Christmas movies. And I know there are times when we have watched regular ones, but all things considering I think a Christmas one is a good idea don't you think so? Although if you really want to watch something completely different we can," at that point Syd had moved over and was standing in front of Bridge.
She put her finger against his lips and smiled at him, "A Christmas movie would be great."
Grinning he stood up and the two shared another kiss before they went downstairs. "You want something to drink?"
"Just a glass of water please."
"Got it." Bridge disappeared into the kitchen while Syd continued to the living room.
She quickly found the movie that she wanted and got it started. She had it paused for a few minutes before Bridge came in with two drinks. He set hers down on the end table beside her, then put his on the coffee table that stood in front of the couch and then he went back into the kitchen. At first Syd was puzzled, if he had gotten their drinks why did he take off? Then she found a certain aroma in the air and realized what it meant, popcorn.
Her husband came back into the room, "Who wants popcorn? It's buttery!" As he said that last word his hand, as usual, flew up to right below his mouth and his fingers wiggled.
She couldn't help the giggle that escaped her before she shook her head, "No thanks I'm good. I'm still a bit full from dinner." He nodded and sat down while Syd started the movie. "Did you know," she began glancing over at him, "that this movie's title before it actually had one was called Two Turtle Doves."
"Two Turtle Doves? That's an odd name."
"It really wasn't supposed to be that in the end, but they used it to disguise what it really was."
"Oh, I didn't know that."
She shrugged, "They've done that with my movies."
Bridge thought about it for a minute before replying, "You're right. I remember now."
The two watched the Christmas movie that had to do with a couple who had been split by other magical means. The girl who had ended up with amnesia was still able to break through and remember him. About half way through the movie Syd reached over and took some of the popcorn. The usual taste that she was expecting did not come and she had to pause, "What is this?"
"What?" Bridge looked over at her, "It's popcorn."
"That does not taste like regular popcorn."
"Oh…well I found in the store the other day different popcorn flavors for Christmas."
"And what flavor was this one?"
"It came in a set."
"So the flavor you put on this popcorn was…?"
Grinning he took a few pieces and popped them into his mouth, "Partridge in a Pear Tree."
"Partridge in a Pear Tree? Like in the song?"
"Yep. I haven't tried the other ones yet, but I bet they're good too."
"You think that tasted good?"
"Didn't you?"
"No. That did not taste good, but, to each their own I suppose."
He smiled at her and she just shook her head and went back to the movie, it was coming up to one of her favorite parts.
She leaned against Bridge and he brought his arm around her and pulled her closer. Luckily the popcorn still smelled like popcorn and not the disgusting flavor.
Her thoughts soon turned to all of the things that she would have to work on tomorrow, well her and Bridge. There was still shopping to be done and gifts to buy and wrap. She had to worry about making sure the party appearances were organized quite well. But that was for tomorrow. Tonight she was going to relax and enjoy the Christmas season with her husband watching a good Christmas movie.