Ebenezer Goldman
Chapter One
Jaime was not happy; in fact, she had worked herself into a fairly respectable fury on the drive to OSI Headquarters, and was muttering to herself as she stormed past Callahan's empty desk. "So what if it's my first holiday by myself? I'm better off without Chris and it IS still a holiday, after all. Who the hell does he think he is...?" She made her way into the inner office without bothering to knock and, finding it empty, slumped into a chair with her arms crossed and an angry scowl on her face. "The world better be coming to an end," she grumbled under her breath, "or he just might wish that it was."
"Good morning!" Oscar said cheerfully, almost bouncing as he took his place behind the desk.
"What's good about it?" Jaime ranted in return. "I see even Callahan has the day off, but not me, huh?"
"Well, I'm here, too," he said reasonably, still smiling, "if that makes any difference."
"Oscar, this better be of earth-shattering importance. It's Christmas Eve!"
Oscar described the assignment and braced himself for the verbal onslaught, which hit immediately and at full bionic force.
"Are you kidding?" Jaime exclaimed, shaking her head in disbelief. "You are joking, right?" Oscar merely stared back at her with serious, non-kidding eyes. "A fact-finding mission? You're sending me to be a look-out? C'mon, Oscar – you could send any first year rookie out on this one! Why me?"
"We may need your special...listening capabilities," he said with a shrug.
"That's what amplification devices were made for," she retorted. "Here's a novel concept for you: Christmas...Holiday...Day off!"
"And I have a concept for you," Oscar told her. "Employee...Boss...Assignment."
"You're gonna pull rank on me – at Christmas?"
"Christmas Eve."
"Oscar -"
"I'm sending a field op out to the same station to handle the electronic gear and lug the equipment," he continued, ignoring her obvious ire, "so all you'll have to do is settle in, get comfortable and keep watch."
"I don't believe this!"
She was taking the news better than he'd expected, and Oscar had to stifle the smile that threatened to overtake him. "Your chopper is waiting; you'll leave right away."
Jaime glared at him. "Merry Christmas, Ebenezer Goldman," she growled on her way out the door.
Once she had gone, Oscar's smile was radiant. "Merry Christmas, Babe," he said softly.
- - - - - -
"So why is Goldman sending you so far into the boonies on Christmas Eve?" Jaime's Air Force chopper pilot inquired as he helped her back onto terra firma. Jaime merely raised an eyebrow, feeling too disgruntled and sorry for herself to concoct a clever answer. "Classified, huh?" the pilot deduced.
"Something like that."
"Well, at least you'll have company. See ya!" He seemed almost relieved to be on his way again, and Jaime could see why.
The little cottage wasn't much to look at – two summers ago, a thorough paint job would've been welcome and the wooden porch steps looked positively rustic, but Jaime supposed that rustic could be cozy, too. Snow had begun falling that morning as they were taking off in the chopper, and now that the flakes were bigger and coming a bit faster, the little cottage (shack?) did have a certain charm. She was relieved to see smoke spiraling from the chimney; whoever the lower level OSI flunky was that Oscar had sent to assist her with whatever she needed, at least he had enough sense to start a fire in the fireplace.
Ok, Oscar, she thought to herself, I'm here to observe, and I'm observing...snow. Maybe it's Level Six snow...? Jaime laughed to herself, finally finding at least a little humor in her situation as she headed inside. Her helper was over in the corner by the fireplace, tinkering with a datacom. He picked up the crates that had been sitting against the wall and turned to her, steadying a pile that was even taller than he was, and stood there as if waiting for her instructions.
"Just put 'em anywhere, for now," Jaime sighed. "We'll sort through it all later." The man (and the stack of crates) didn't move. "What?" she asked. Was he nervous, shy or simply inept?
"Aren't you even gonna say hello?" the 'stack' asked with a chuckle. Her helper set down the crates, and Jaime laughed like she hadn't laughed in years.
She nodded, understanding now what her 'Scrooge' had been up to. "Hi, Steve."
- - - - - -
"So, did you know all along that Oscar was planning this?" Jaime asked as she and Steve sipped hot cocoa next to the fireplace.
"All I knew was that Oscar was sending me out needlessly on Christmas Eve," Steve replied, chuckling. "I wasn't very nice to him."
"I called him Ebenezer Goldman."
"You did not!" Steve was finding he couldn't look directly into Jaime's eyes; they still held the power to mesmerize him and leave him totally speechless. "Did you really?"
"Yep."
"I called him Oscar the Scrooge." His eyes were greedily taking in every detail of the woman seated beside him on the rug, and he longed to hold her, to kiss her and simply never stop, but...
"It's always great to see you," Steve finally continued, "but I doubt Chris will be too happy when he hears about this."
Jaime was shocked. She'd assumed Oscar had told him about the break-up. "I'm...not with Chris anymore," she said softly, smiling directly into his eyes.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
Jaime grinned. "Liar."
"Ok – you got me," Steve admitted. It was the best news he'd heard in...forever. "All of this makes a lot more sense now."
"Oscar the matchmaker," Jaime agreed. And a damn fine job he did, too. "So what's in the boxes?"
Each box had a number on the side, and Steve pulled the number one box closer. "I thought I'd better wait for the operative-in-charge. I didn't open 'em."
Steve and Jaime each grabbed one flap and opened the first box, staring in wonder at what was inside. "Oh, my...!" Jaime whispered.
- - - - - -