Disclaimer: Power Rangers aren't among my earthly possessions.
I felt the urge to do a Christmas ficlet, so, here it is. As mentioned in the summary, it's a two-parter. Hope it's decent.
Holiday Miracles
Jason Scott- whom was sleeping- groaned and mumbled as someone tugged on his arm insistently. All the thirty-three-year-old man wanted to do right now was sleep as though he'd never slept before. But, evidently, that wasn't going to happen. His eyes opened slowly and stared at a sweet, young face. His brown-haired, green-eyed, six-year-old daughter Amber.
"Daddy, I'm hungry," she said, climbing onto the bed.
Jason yawned, then, turned, sat up and stretched. He rubbed at his eyes, then, looked at his daughter again. "All right, princess. Just give Daddy a minute."
"Okay," she chirped, playing with a lock of her hair.
He looked over at the clock. It was barely seven. Amber had always been an early riser. 'I wonder if she'll still be a morning person in high school,' he thought with a short chuckle as he got out of bed. "I'm gonna head to the bathroom, baby. Why don't you go wait in the kitchen?"
"Okay," she said, hopping off the bed. "Daddy, do you think Mommy's having breakfast right now?"
Jason's foggy brain cleared up quickly and completely and he tensed as that familiar, sharp pain filled his heart. He gave his daughter a half-smile. "Maybe she is, princess."
"Maybe she's having French toast," Amber said- referring to her own favorite breakfast food.
"Yeah. She did love it," he said, nodding.
He'd met Jade Matthews ten and a half years ago and they'd married eight years and three months ago. They'd been happy and very much in love. They'd had a great family, great life... but, it'd all come to a horrific end three years earlier when Jade had been killed in a car crash... on Christmas Day. Jason hadn't been the same about the holiday since.
'It'll be three years tomorrow,' he thought, closing his eyes. Yeah. Christmas was tomorrow. 'I wish I can get in bed, go back to sleep and wake up in the new year.' But Amber loved Christmas and he wanted her to have a good one. It didn't matter that he was pretty sure he'd never be into it again. His daughter's happiness meant everything to him.
"Daddy, you can't sleep while you're standing," Amber said with a giggle.
'Sleep?' he thought, confused. Then, he remembered his eyes were closed, opened them and smiled at her. "Hey, your dad can do anything, remember?" he said.
"Uh-huh," she said happily, then, she hurried out of the room.
Jason exited as well and began heading for the bathroom. He suddenly thought of the party Rocky and Katherine DeSantos- whom had been married six years- would be having tonight and stopped in his tracks. He was definitely in no mood for it. Especially when he thought of being surrounded by decorations, music, laughter, happy couples and their families... . But, he knew he'd be going anyhow- for Amber. Besides, they were his friends and he couldn't just not show up. After all, he'd attended Tommy and Hayley's party last year and Zack and Aisha's the year before- even though he seriously hadn't been up for it either time.
He pictured Jade with her black hair, green eyes, welcoming smile and her sort of wacky sense of humor. She hadn't been the greatest cook, she'd had an almost worse problem with punctuality than Tommy and whenever she'd been wrong about something, she'd had a hard time admitting it. But Jade had been a fun-loving, caring woman that loved life and family... and holidays. He also loved that fact that she'd liked sports.
'You have no idea how much I miss you, Jade,' he thought as he resumed heading for the bathroom.
"Look, I don't have time for this," Kimberly Hart told her ex-husband, Brian Mallone, in an annoyed tone that evening. She worked as a fashion buyer. After leaving the store, she had come straight to Brian's to pick up their seven-year-old son, Kyle. She'd planned to hurry on over to Rocky and Katherine's, but, Brian had a different plan. The former couple stood in his living room- arguing. Kyle was currently in his bedroom, playing a video game.
"Try making time, Kimberly," thirty-five-year-old Brian said. "I think I'm being pretty reasonable."
"Reasonable? You want Kyle to spend all of Christmas with you!" she said incredulously.
"So it's fine for you, but, I'm a monster for wanting it," he said.
"What are you talking about, Brian? I've never tried to hog our son on Christmas," she said.
"Hog? I'm not trying to hog him. Kim, he lives with you. I get visits and phone calls. What's the matter with wanting him here-" he was saying.
"How can you even ask that? It's Christmas and you expect me to spend about zero minutes of it with him. And don't stand there and pretend like you can't see Kyle whenever you want," she said, glaring at him. 'He is unbelievable.'
She and Brian had gotten together a little over eleven years ago and married nine and a half years ago. They'd divorced three and a half years earlier. It had been a case of love simply not being enough.
"Will you stop being dramatic? There's nothing wrong with him spending Christmas over here," he said irritably.
"We usually share, Brian. Share. Besides, he spent all day with you today," she said.
"Tomorrow is the day that actually counts," he said. "You know, there are a lot of people that don't even spend Christmas with their families."
"Brian, this isn't about some deep need to spend time with Kyle. This is about you wanting to play "Father of The Year" for that woman you've been seeing," she said.
"So, it's the "you don't really love your son" argument again," he said.
"I've never said that. I know you love him and so does he. But, it's no secret that you prefer a career to a family," she said to the corporate lawyer.
"I'm not the one that gave up, Kim," he said quietly. "I was willing to try and make it work."
"We both know that that was mainly because you needed a wife more than you wanted one. But, we're not talking about our marriage. We're talking about being fair. After Kyle has breakfast and opens his presents tomorrow morning, I'll bring him over and he can spend some time here- not all day and night. I really want him home with me for dinner because we're having Jason and Amber over. And-" she was saying.
"Oh. Jason," he said, then, laughed and shook his head. "Your 'special pal' Jason."
Kimberly rolled her eyes. "Knock it off, Brian. You never had a problem with Jason's and my friendship and you don't now. You're just trying to be a jerk."
He stared at her for what seemed like a decade, then, sighed deeply and ran his hands through his hair. "You're right. You're right. That was completely unnecessary and I'm sorry."
Kimberly nodded- knowing he was being sincere. "Don't worry about it."
"About Kyle... we'll do it your way. It is fair. I don't know how I could've been nuts enough to even suggest what I did. Maybe you're right about my wanting to impress Erin," he said, looking embarrassed.
"Nothing wrong with trying to impress her, Brian. Now just isn't the right time," she said with a small smile. "You know you're welcome to have dinner with us tomorrow."
"Thanks, but, I'll be at my sister's," he said with a smile.
"Okay," she said, then, sighed. "I guess I'll get Kyle now."
It was now nearly two hours later and the DeSantoses' party was in full swing. The house was overflowing with Christmas spirit. But, of course, Jason was unaffected by it all. He stood in a corner watching everyone. He couldn't even wish he was enjoying himself. Maybe that was pathetic, but, he didn't care. 'I'll try not to be a huge, wet blanket, but, that won't be the easiest task.'
He felt guilty about wanting to be home right now. These people were important to him. But, three years ago, something had died in him. He'd lost the woman he'd loved with all he had in him. The mother of his child. They were supposed to spend the rest of their lives together.
'But she's not here anymore. How can she not be here anymore? I go to bed every night and wake up every morning... she's not there. Everywhere I turn, she's not there,' he thought as immense sadness washed over him. It was dangerous to be thinking this way- especially here. But it couldn't be helped. 'I've gotta get out of here for a few minutes,' he thought as Mariah Carey's version of "All I Want For Christmas" filled the room.
A couple minutes later, he was sitting outside on Katherine and Rocky's front steps- ignoring the laughter and joy coming from the inside. His desire to leave was getting stronger by the second. So was his guilt about the desire to leave. Oh, yeah. He was in a fantastic mood.
"I think it's against the law to wanna ditch a party," a female voice said.
His head snapped up and his eyes widened. "Jade?"
A grin appeared on his wife's face. "According to my mom, yeah."
Jason couldn't believe it. Had he finally lost his freaking mind? "How- why- what's..."
"Hey, I'm just here to tell you that you're gonna find love again and the search is gonna be incredibly short," she said seriously.
