Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Lexami. Not Hotstreak or static shock…nada.
The Poor man's Christmas
Some might say that Christmas is dead; others might say that Christmas is a rich man's holiday. Well the people that said this are the same person. The man that said this was right. This is the story of one man's Christmas… no, this is the story of his family's Christmas. Let me take you to the little place in Dakota that most people thought was a crime infested rat hole. Sadly it was, but that's all this one man knew.
Where the snow is falling energetically elsewhere, here it is a solemn sight falling on the docks of Dakota. See, down there the buildings were anything but warm shelter and they were all covered in poverty and graffiti. There was one building however that was most different from the others. Oh no, it was still covered in poverty and graffiti, but through the boarded up windows warmth and actual merriment snuck through.
And now coming down the street towards this building with the old wooden sign "Lem's 'N Barley's" was a man in a heavy and battered black leather jacket that went to his knees. Behind him he carried a large tawny sack, like the variable ghetto street Santa; his sack was full of toys. Albeit most of them were probably stolen from various mansions and the man himself had no freaking idea what was in them, but that didn't mean that there wasn't love put into each stolen gift.
Now, one had to ask themselves… What would a man want with stolen toys? Some would say money, or perhaps greed and even Grinch come to mind! But, however good those answers may be, that is not why he had the burden on his back.
So, here I take you to his point of view, his life, his hopes and loved ones, his problems and misfortunes, his reasons for living…
The filthy snow covered streets wreaked of garbage and who knows what else, as he crunched through the boarded up buildings and broken down warehouses. The snow fell despairingly on his back, but though his beaten leather jacket's hood covered his whole face and being, the cold still reached him somehow. Like a gripping beggar the snow wanted his acknowledgement, but his burden was too heavy to give it any notice. He clawed his grip tighter on the sack over his right shoulder with grim determination, his boots heavily crunching the snow beneath him, his teeth gritted from the cold, and let's not forget the heavy burden on his back and the even heavier burden on his soul.
"Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree! How lovely are your branches?" sang some carolers nearby one of the only nice apartments in his wake, but their cheer only made his burden heavier as his destination approached up ahead, between a broken down skyscraper and another empty abandoned crack house, sat Lem's 'N Barley's. The man's heavy set broad shoulders rose and fell with his sigh as his breath came out dancing into the unforgiving cold like blue smoke. He was down an alleyway and Lem's 'N Barley's was well hidden if you didn't know how to find it. That's why the place was perfect for all the Bang Babies and gang bangers who didn't have a family to spend their Christmas with.
It was in the center of a definable labyrinth. The man smiled under his coat, a small smile, but an almost tender one. His feet dragged against the ground as he made his way towards the dark wooden double doors of the joint, but as he did he was accosted by a very scantily clad woman opening her coat for him to see. "Hey, want to have a little company for the holidays, handsome?" she said wantonly.
Now some men might look away in disgust or even shove the whore away, but not this man. He knew what it was like to have no food for the night and he knew what it felt like to do things you didn't want to for survival…
The man gave her a strangely sorry look as he spoke with a soft undertone, "I don't have any money to offer you… I'm sorry. All I can give you is this." he said as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a new furred scarf he'd just stolen. The woman looked at the man and then at the scarf. She glared at him and said, "What the hell am I supposed to do with this? I need food or money, not a scarf!" she was clearly pissed. The man rolled his eyes at her and with gruffness in his tone he replied, "Look you idiot! This is mink! Do you know how much cash you can get for this?" before he tossed the scarf at her and continued on his way.
She looked after him a little shocked, but mostly thankful as she clutched the scarf to her chest and scurried away. The man growled to himself, 'Yeah, you better sell that thing for a hell of a lot more than I was going to or I'll find you. *sigh* Lex would have loved that scarf…' as his feet hit the wooden landing at the doors.
Yes, the holidays were a very hard time for him, but not because he couldn't keep warm or because he couldn't find food or a bed for the night. No, you see…
He opened the door and was filled with the warmth of the fireplace in the building as he began to search for someone.
"Oh, holy night
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night,
Of our dear Savior's birth"
The man grinned as he walked in, closing the door behind him, and stared up at the beautiful little girls singing "Oh Holy Night" for the patrons of the dive/bar.
"Long lay the world
In sin and arraigning
Till he appeared
And the soul felt its worth"
He shed the confines of his coat, never dropping the bag, as he held it in the hand opposite the one he was currently pulling out of its sleeve, and watched his two angels up on the stage. They both had their mother's beautiful voice.
"A thrill of Hope
The weary world rejoices
For yonder praise
A new and glorious morn"
The taller of the two had large wolfish ears and tail that were the same fiery crimson as her short face framing hair, with blonde streaks highlighting through it and misty green eyes, she was the spitting image of him.
"Fall…on your knees
Oh hear, the angel voices
Oh night divine
Oh night when Christ is born"
The two sung together flawlessly like they were one breath. The smaller of the two had the brightest purple eyes, with kitten like white ears and tail, with the same snow white hair as luxuriously long as her mother's.
"Oh night… divine
Oh night, oh night divine"
They each had a charm around their neck the redheads a small skull, the platinum, platinum blondes a gleaming silver kitten. His grin faltering slightly he hung up his coat, sack in hand, and kept his head down so as not to be seen be the two little girls.
"Truly, he taught us
To love one another
His lore is love
And His gospel is peace."
It was then when he saw her.
"Chains shall he break
The slave is our brother
And in his name
All oppression shall cease"
The woman he loved, the mother of his children and the saint of his world.
"Sweet hymns of joy
And grateful chorus raise we
That all within us praise his holy name"
She sat swathed in faded lavender blankets made clothing and held in her arms a babe, while the woman sat beside a small young woman with light brown hair and dark brown eyes.
"Christ, is the Lord
All praise his name forever
His power and glory
Evermore proclaim"
He made his way to them quietly and sat down in their booth, surprising the faded lavender clad woman.
"His power and glory
Evermore proclaim"
She gasped as she jumped and then breathed out one word, "Francis…"
"Fall…on your knees
Oh hear the angel voices
Oh night divine
Oh night when Christ is born"
He reached into the hood of the shawl like cloak and drew the warmth of her lips against his.
"Oh night divine
Oh night, oh night divine"
You see… he had four beautiful children to look after and a woman that should be his wife to love and hold.
The man's name is Francis Stone, his supposed to be wife's name is Lexami, and the two girls up on the stage are his daughters. The redheaded ones name is Jessica, age 10 and the platinum, platinum blondes name is Celest, age 6. The babe in his lover's arms is a boy named Alexander, 6 months and the young woman beside her is his long time adopted sister Maureen, age 28. They're poor and they didn't have anywhere else to escape the cold other than here. He's never been happier though. He met Lex in a topless bar years ago and now he's trying to get work.
After him and her started going out he made her quit working there, said "You're too sweet to work in a place like this." And was shocked to find she was a virgin when he first took her. But no one will hire him because of his record and no cares about his family; then again no one knows he has a family. When he steals it's to feed his little girls and when he blows up buildings in anger it's because he knows she's still at home waiting for the likes of him, but when he tells her to leave him and find someone better she just smiles and says that "There is no one better than you."
He's learned to accept that and even if he's starving and the colds seeping in he knows she loves him and she'll be with him through all the hell. So as he sits in that booth, kissing his lover tenderly, he says without words the love of a husband and a father and a lover without falter. His little girls love to sing, just like their mother. Underneath his leather coat is a long grey sweater and thick black jeans to match his heavy leather boots. Jessica is wearing a sleeveless wool vest the same color as her eyes with beige cargo pants, too big for her slight frame, and beat up black and red converses with white wool socks.
Celest is wrapped up in a dirty white sweater and light blue worn and ripped jeans, her feet snuggled in dark brown snow boots. Maureen is dressed in a blue-grey fur lined hooded coat, her black tennis shoes are mostly hidden beneath the legs of her blue jeans and she wears raggedy, black, wool, fingerless gloves. All he wants is to let his children have a Christmas.
His children climb down from the stage and make their way over to their kissing parents.
Nothing will prepare them for what is about to happen…
Jessica and Celeste giggled to themselves as they saw daddy kissing their mommy and quickly, but quietly, made their way over to them. They liked Lem's 'N Barley's bar most because they got to sing up on a real live stage! The fire place in the corner was really warm too and the people sitting at the bar all looked really happy! There was even a real live Christmas tree in the corner by the boarded up window! They were so lucky.
Francis began to lick at her bottom lip gently and caused a quiet little moan to course through her lips and to his ears. He could have kissed her all day and he'd still want more, in fact that's just what he was going to do! Kiss her all day. Lexami would have been happy to oblige… if two little girls hadn't let a giggle slip out. Francis pulled away and removed Lexy's hood so he could gaze at his lover and turned to look at where the laughter had come from. With a grin on his lips and a light heart he was greeted by two grinning girls.
"Daddy!" they both cried as they launched themselves into his lap. He laughed as he caught them, set them each on one knee, and held them tightly to his chest. Then came their questions alternating between them, first Celeste and then Jessica.
"Daddy! Daddy, why didn't you come home last night?"
"Daddy, where'd you go?"
"And why couldn't we go with you?"
"Did you get us any presents?"
"Daddy, what's in the bag?"
"Daddy, you love us both the same right?"
"Is it food?"
"Didja get us toys for being good this year from Santa?"
Francis laughed as he was bombarded with questions and finally interrupted them, "Ok! Okay, one at a time! Jeez, ok." He said laughingly while his daughters bit their lips and blushed. "Alright now," He smiled as he began to answer the tirade of questions as best he could. "The reason I didn't come home last night Celly, is because I was out getting you guys presents-" Suddenly he was cut off by the both of them "-From the North Pole?" they asked excitedly. He knew he couldn't tell them the truth. They'd be really upset if they knew that the gifts were stolen…he couldn't bear to see their tears.
"uh, yes. Santa and I have a very good relationship." He smiled sadly at them as he said this. 'If there is a Saint Nick up there at the North Pole then I'm definitely going to be getting coal the rest of my life.' Francis thought grimly. "And the reason you two couldn't come with me is because… well then you guys would know what you're getting and it wouldn't be a surprise." He pieced together the words enough to convince his two little girls, but certainly not enough to convince his should-be-wife. He winced as he heard her make a disapproving noise from behind him. He shakily spoke again to his girls, "In, in fact. Santa knew just what you two would love and so he had the presents ready when I got there so even I don't know what he wrapped for you!"
Once again Lexy made a disapproving sound from the back of him, he continued on with his lie. "They're in the bag down there." He said nodding toward the sack he'd dropped next to the table. The girls both looked at each other with a grin and made to go for the bag, but before they could Francis yanked them back into his arms. "Ah, not so fast." He said to them with a grin. "And to answer your question Jesse…" he squeezed them both making them squeal with delight and kissed them both on the cheek "I love you two more than anything else in the whole wide world." He whispered to the two of them.
"Even more than presents?" asked Celeste and her sister followed suit "or candy?" Jessica asked timidly.
Francis smiled warmly at the innocence of his children and said laughingly, "Yes! I love you two more that presents, candy, puppies, chocolate, and anything else the two of you can think of." Before he let them go and they raced toward the bag, but not before he heard Celeste say to Jessica "Wow! Daddy must really, really, really love us!"
He sighed as he glanced at Maureen. She was giving him a knowing saddened smile and if it hurt this bad to see her looking at him like that he wasn't going to be able to stand looking at Lex. But he had to.
He turned his body to face the beautiful violet eyes of his lover. She eyed him with depression and spoke softly so as not to alert the girls, "You know I wanted to give them Christmas this year, but… Francis, that's no excuse for stealing." She looked at him with so much emotion in her eyes, saying without words that even if she and he knew what she said was true there was no other way their children could have a Christmas.
He made a small contemplating sound as he caressed her cheek with his palm and spoke just as quietly, "We couldn't have had any Christmas at all if I hadn't. Besides Lex, you should have seen the places I got them from. The people in those houses could have celebrated every holiday of the year in one day if they'd of had the mind to. What's so wrong about taking a crumb of the wealthy's prosperity and having more than we've had in a year in just one day?" His words tore through her as she leaned into his touch. She smiled almost saint-like. "Your hands are always so warm Francis. Even after being out in the cold." She whispered.
He smiled a smile of pure adoration. He moved close enough to her so she could lay her head on his right shoulder, he wrapped a protective arm around her slim shoulders and he sighed as he rested his head upon hers, and rubbed her arm consolingly. He kissed the top of her head and whispered, "One day we're gonna make it out of here and then we're gonna live in one of those houses. We'll have the nicest house of them all, one on the hill and Christmas every year. We'll be so well off that guys like me will steal from us so that they can have a Christmas for their family." And then he buried his face into her hair. She always smelled good no matter if she'd bathed or not.
Maybe he just loved her enough not to care.
Suddenly their small moment of peace was interrupted by Jessica asking, "Um…Daddy? Why are there different names on our presents?" and Francis stiffened, but then suddenly Maureen beat him to an explanation. "Well, maybe Santa's name tag machine was a little on the fritz." Jessica seemed happy with the answer and went back to looking through the colorfully wrapped boxes. Francis let out a breath of relief and looked at Maureen with a look of thanks, said quietly to her, "Thanks 'Reeny." and once again buried his face into his lover's hair.
He didn't deserve them…at least he never thought so.
Without her… without them all, he'd just be a soulless man. He'd have no reason to go on and no person to give his heart to. Since he was young he's been hated and ignored, but now he had a reason to stand up even with so many hated stares trying to knock him down. How many more ways can I say this… oh yes. His family made him whole and she completed him. Ever wonder why clichés work so well? It's because they best describe the feelings that would be less if said any other way. Or they might just be easier to express. Either way, when he held his love to his chest, he held his heart to himself. She made him feel. His daughters had made him want to be a better person… a better father for them.
He held a love so deep and so strong that he'd die for them all without a second thought. No one seemed to know this though. No one.
He didn't complain about his problems and so far everyone in the state thought he was still Hot Streak, F-stop, and did what he did because he was just an angry violent individual. From when he was nineteen to his now solid age of thirty five, he was alone and he would always be alone because no one else could believe that he was fighting for a purpose. He didn't think it would matter if he told anyone about his should-be-wife and children, but then again he knew that if anyone knew then they'd come for him…or worse.
They might take his girls from him. He'd die before he let that happen. He'd never let his family be ripped apart. He loves his lover with a burning passion of almost indescribable emotion. Never has he loved another as he loves her. Pure and like virgin snow, she changed the way he looked at the world. He thought that if something so sweet and beautiful could exist in the hell that was the docks, then he could become her guardian angel. He could finally make something of himself! He could live like he meant something… because he meant something to someone. He loved because he was loved first. He'd gone from being completely shunned from the world to having so many people that loved him to tears so suddenly that sometimes he thought that it was all just a dream. From heaven to hell it seemed.
So as they sit there in peace and he breathes deep of her scent… the world outside is about to be a web of chaos.
Jessica tugs on her father's shirt and he turns away from her mother to face her with warmth in his eyes. "Yes, what would you like Jesse?" he asks her softly. He loves her more than any father could possibly love their daughter and he'd give her anything in this whole wide world… if he could. Jessica bites her lip timidly. She is only timid with her father and most of the time… well… let's say that she is clearly her father's daughter. "Um, It-it's just that… mama said that we could open one present on Christmas Eve… because that's what she got to do when she was a kid. So, I was just wondering-" Celeste cuts in then "-Can we do that too?" and then he's left with their hopeful grins and the inability to say no.
He grins right back at them and looking at Lexami with said grin still in place he answers them "Well that's a great idea! Go ahead a pick one out, both of you." And then he looked at Maureen, his smile now a solemn upturn of lips, and said quietly to her "You get one too Reeny. Pick anyone you like." And she smiled back at him and went to join her sisters in their searching.
Oh, now I wish I could tell you that they opened their presents then, that tomorrow they'd open the rest of them under their own Christmas tree at home, then Celeste would find a check for fifty thousand grand in a package and they'd be able to move so Francis could get work… Happily ever after.
Francis turned to Lex again and grinned at her as she stared down at her lap with pink dusting her cheeks. Suddenly he pulled her against his side and she squeaked funnily as he smacked a kiss upon her previously mentioned cheek. Bringing his mouth to her ear he whispered "My, my. Aren't you just full of encouragement?" To which she replied "I just thought that they'd like to hear about their mother's childhood…" He gave her a quizzical look as she responded to it with a laugh. She took a glance at the children and then back at him. "Ok… and maybe I thought they'd like to open a present now so they wouldn't be so antsy come Christmas… or disappointed." She smiled warmly at her grinning sweetheart and kissed him lightly on his lips.
But, then again tell me. Do things happen like that in reality? Quite simply no, No, they do not; and really…nothing ever really is that simple.
"We got our presents!" Celeste said excitedly to her parents. "All right then honey. Bring them here so we can watch you open them." Said her mother sweetly against her father's lips and then they both turned to watch them as the three girls brought their packages to the table. When they were all sitting at the table Maureen went first. Her present was a medium sized round box wrapped in dark blue wrapping paper with a light yellow satin ribbon tied around it. She looked at it with contained enthusiasm as she quickly, but carefully began to tug at the ribbon till it fell apart. Francis had always loved Maureen like a little sister and when he'd found her in the homeless shelter, he couldn't leave her there. Lex wouldn't have wanted him to.
That was when he'd first met Lex and he was so smitten that he knew he wanted to always be with her. Reeny had been with him almost as long as Lex had and she loved him like a big brother and a father. She'd watched him as he delivered his own children on the bed in their small shack and offered moral support to Lex through it all. He'd never gotten them their birth certificates, or let Lex give birth in a hospital, or let any legal anything come near his family. As far as anyone was concerned his daughters and son didn't exist. Not yet any way. Both he and the mother of his children had gone without hospital help, because they feared for their children. They feared losing them.
He thought about these trying facts of life as his little adopted sister who wasn't quite so little opened the lid of the circular box to reveal a new white furred cap. She smiled as she tugged down her hood. She slipped it onto her head and then Jessica roughly tugged at the ruby red, tiny box's wrapping and cried out with delight as she opened the wine colored velvet box reveled underneath the wrapping and held up a golden heart shaped locket. She set it on the table to gaze at it and lastly was Celeste. Celeste hadn't picked out anything fancy or presumably expensive… all she'd chosen was a fuzzy white teddy bear with a red ribbon tied around its neck.
Francis was happy… the happiest he'd been in a while. This scene before him… it was absolutely beautiful. His three girls… smiling over the gifts he'd stolen. He loved them all so much.
And so they sat there in that bar, happier than they'd ever been that year… over just a few small gifts their father had gotten them.
Jessica gets up and asks Francis to put on her new locket. So he does. A father's love is what this Christmas is filled with. Sadly Swat teams and policemen don't mind trampling these precious moments. They talk there for a few minutes… just about family things. Like when Jesse caught a frog yesterday by the sewer grate outside, or when Maureen got fired last week, or even when Francis had to kill a spider that had crept up on Celeste a few nights ago. They talked about the things that people who loved each other spoke of. It was their way. Sometimes he'd find himself thinking that he was the luckiest man in the whole world… Francis didn't deserve a woman like her.
That's what he thought… he never said it because all she'd say is "It's me that's the lucky one and I don't deserve you" and then she would hold him. He could honestly say that he'd never been held before she came into his life. Now he was held and stroked, loved and kissed, caressed and fawned upon… for sixteen years that hadn't changed and he suspected that it never would. He never ever wanted it to. Since he was young he'd been selfish, but she'd made him forget about his own needs completely. Then his children came… first Maureen, then Jessica, then Celeste and finally his little Alexander.
Because of them he was practically a Saint. It had showed often during her pregnancy. "How are you feeling? You should lie down. Don't walk so fast! Easy, easy beautiful, I love you so much!" He'd said about a billion times in those months and she'd always laughed and humored him. He'd kissed her belly and talked to it… to his unborn angel. No one would ever suspect Hot Streak of being the perfect or ever the mediocre father, but in those months and even now you could almost feel the warmth that surrounded his family. Sometimes, a father's will is strained as are his patients…but now his ability to protect his loved ones is about to be strained.
And then suddenly… Lexami and Francis … both hear the sound of sirens coming from the outside…
And then they know… they know they must get the children.