Christmas Nigh; Adeste Fi!
By Teacup (of JAG)
A/N: I've decided to celebrate Christmas in July!
In JAG's season 8 Christmas episode, 'All Ye Faithful,' I loved all of the allusions to classic Christmas stories. So, I decided to continue the storyline from that episode in a similar fashion.
It's a shipper story (H/M), but also covers the larger JAG family. There's a bit of humor with the Christmas references and such, but the story has its serious moments too.
I'm going to challenge myself to try to post a part a day, so that ... yes, the goal is for the last part to fall on the 25th day of the month.
If anyone wants to and has nothing better to do, keep a running tab of the Christmas references/allusions from each chapter in this story. After I have posted the very last part of the story (Part 25), you can e-mail me your list, and I'll see how close you get. Eventually, I will probably put up my own list crediting the various underlying Christmas stories/songs/traditions.
I'm okay whether people feel like making a list (and checking it twice) or not. … However, I do appreciate feedback, … so I really would like people to review.
Disclaimer: I don't own JAG. If I did, season eight's Christmas episode would have been a multi-hour special, and 'All Ye Faithful' would have continued something like this …
Christmas Nigh; Adeste Fi!
Part 1
After dinner, little AJ was playing with a Rudolph keychain that lit up. Making the reindeer fly, he accidentally knocked over a cup of red fruit punch which spilled out onto the table, but mostly found its way all over his grandfather.
Big Bud was covered with the crimson substance. The juice somehow managed to thoroughly tarnish his shirt, jacket, and pants.
"AJ!" Harriet exasperatedly scolded her son. Then, addressing her father-in-law, she quickly offered, "I'm sorry."
Immediately, those guests who had remained in the dining room began a collective effort to clean up the mess on the table, some saving certain items from the spreading liquid and others grabbing paper towel to soak up what they could.
Big Bud was obviously not happy, and he snapped at his grandson. "You ought to watch where you're swingin' that thing!"
Little AJ's lip quivered because he was on the verge of tears, but he squeaked out, "Sorry."
Harriet, who was just offering Big Bud some paper towel to wipe himself off with, now gave him a disapproving glance for the harsh tone he had used with her son.
The tough, old master chief noticed both Harriet's and little AJ's faces and managed to calm himself.
"Aw, I know it was an accident," he relented in an effort to mitigate his earlier reaction. Looking himself over, he sighed and then declared, "Guess I won't be going out anywhere tonight after all."
Bud offered to help. "Come on, Dad. I'll see if I can find you something else to wear. It'll be fine."
"I don't know how well I'd fit into any of your suits, son."
Harriet grimaced and reluctantly broke in, "Actually, …"
Bud realized what his wife was going to say, and he regretfully finished the thought. "… all of my other suits are currently at the dry cleaners."
"Oh, that's just great," Big Bud stated with sarcasm. "Well, I'm not going to church dressed like some slob!"
"Dad," Bud reproached him.
"You need to at least get out of those clothes," Harriet told her father-in-law. "If those stains aren't treated now, they'll set, and you'll never get them out."
"Fine," humphed Big Bud, allowing his eldest son to lead him upstairs.
Meredith, AJ Chegwidden's date, decided to fill in the awkward silence that followed. "So AJ,… what did you ask Santa for this year?"
The Admiral's eyes popped open with surprise that she would ask him such a question in front of so many people, considering that the kind of response he knew she'd want would be rather … personal.
But then he realized she was addressing the younger AJ.
Little AJ still didn't know Meredith very well, and he got shy when she talked to him.
"Go on, honey," Harriet assured her son. "You can tell Ms. Cavanaugh what you want for Christmas."
Slowly, a grin began to form on little AJ's face until he finally exploded with exclamation of his Christmas wish. "A puppy!" he declared.
"We talked about that, AJ," his mother reminded him. "You know we can't have one right now. And Santa knows that too," she gently pointed out.
"I know," the boy replied glumly.
Bud returned, leaving his dad in one of the upstairs bedrooms. He explained that his father wanted to be left alone to choose an outfit for church.
Meanwhile, Meredith was not going to be deterred from engaging the Roberts' young son. "So, what else do you want, AJ? There must have been some other good things on your wish list."
AJ's eyes now lit up. "Yeah," he agreed. "I want a plane!"
Smiling amusedly, Mac looked across the table at Harm with suspicion. "Sounds like someone's been influencing him."
Harm denied it, insisting, "I had nothing to do with this."
Bud eagerly jumped in. "Well, he does like to hear about your flying, sir. … AJ, tell them what kind of plane you want."
"It's this big," declared little AJ, stretching his arms far apart to illustrate. "And it's a fighter plane like Harm flies. And you can make it fly with 'mote control."
"Actually, it's radio controlled," Bud quickly corrected, and enthusiastically continued, "and it's really cool! It can fly up to 50 miles per hour with a range of 2500 feet. It's got nose wheel steering and it's designed with a laser cut motor mount."
"Sounds impressive," commented Jennifer.
"It is," Bud went on with his eyes alight. "It's powered by a high torque 480 7.2 v electric motor and an 8.4 volt 1000 nickel metal hydride battery."
Little AJ, not caring about the technical details in the least, cut to the chase. "And it can go loop-de-loop!" he proclaimed, gesturing with his arms.
Harm laughed. "That is always the best part," he agreed.
"Yeah, but, sir," Bud continued excitedly. "It also comes with a flight simulator program for the computer. You can use it to help program a flying sequence for the actual plane."
"My, toys have sure gotten complicated these days," commented Meredith. "When I was little AJ's age, the things I wanted were very simple."
"What did you want back then?" asked the Admiral out of curiosity for what his girlfriend was like as a kid.
Meredith answered, pouting a little, "Me? … I wanted a hula hoop!"
Mikey Roberts, who was sitting next to his young nephew, urged, "Tell them what else is on your list, AJ."
Little AJ readily complied. "Games to play and lots and lots of action figures. … And building blocks; I want to build a big castle with big towers!"
Sturgis had returned to the table from the other room where he had been talking with the warrant officer who had provided them with the dinner this evening. "Looking forward to opening your presents then, huh, AJ?"
Little AJ nodded, practically bouncing out of his seat with excitement.
Harriet supplemented, "He can hardly stand the wait."
Just then, something caught Mikey's eye. "Wow!" He noticed his father coming down the steps and was surprised to see Big Bud dressed up in formal military attire. Everyone now looked up at the retired master chief, surprised, but quite impressed by what he was wearing.
Big Bud simply remarked, "What? You didn't expect me to come down in a bathrobe, did you?"
He had stored his formal uniform there at his son's house, not expecting to ever wear it again. But with his options limited for what to dress in for church, he found the uniform in the spare closet and dusted it off. It was tight, but still fit.
"You look very good, Master Chief," Jennifer complimented.
The elder Roberts groaned a thank you. "I feel like I'm going to bust my gut."
A few people laughed lightly at the comment. Sturgis remarked, "I think we're all feeling a bit stuffed since dinner."
"No kidding," Mac chimed in. "I swear this dress just shrunk a size. I feel like I'm about to pop out of it."
Suddenly realizing that she had left herself wide open for a snarky comment about either her weight or, more likely, about coming out of her dress, she glared at Harm, daring him … no, warning him not to make a wisecrack.
Harm had a twinkle in his eyes which let Mac know that some amusing thought had indeed flitted through his head. But he simply grinned and held his hands up defensively.
"I'm not going to touch that with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole," Harm declared.
The Admiral, who had gotten up from the table and was passing behind Harm at that moment, patted the Commander on the back. "Wise man," he said.
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TBC …
A/N: What do you think so far? By the way, the next part is all Harm and Mac.