Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
A John and Sameen Story
By Brown Eyes Parker
Author's Note:
A few things before you get into the story. I think Shaw's background is Jewish. So, I realize by writing this I am slightly overreaching. Also, I know she's "emotionless" but something Sarah Shai said stood out to me and I wanted to explore it. I forget what it was exactly, but I think it was along the lines of cracking the hard exterior. Lastly, I realize that Shaw and Reese are the most unpopular ship on the show. So, I kept it platonic with some squinting for the handful of Shaw/Reese fans out there. The title comes from "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Judy Garland.
Rated: K+
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
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People wouldn't know it by looking at her but Sameen Shaw loved Christmas. The sights, the sounds, the way New York was suddenly dripping in white lights and the way that Rockefeller Center looked all lit up at night. She loved the special Christmas soaps from Bath & Body, and sweet holiday flavored beverages at Starbucks. She loved putting loose change into the Salvation Army's red pails while she wished the bell ringing Santa Claus a Merry Christmas. And sometimes on Saturday night, if she had free time on her hands, she would tune into one of the new Hallmark movies on TV.
She loved the way a fir scented candle from the Yankee Candle store made her apartment smell and the way Christmas trees looked from her neighbor's apartment windows.
The one thing she didn't like about Christmas was that she always wound up spending it by herself. She didn't have anybody to buy gifts for or to watch It's A Wonderful Life with on Christmas Eve. She didn't have somebody to give her wish list to or make sugar cookies with. She never had even though it had always been one of the things she (secretly) wanted the most.
One day a couple of weeks before Christmas, she confided her wish in Finch. Afterwards, she still wouldn't be able to figure out why she did it. Maybe she had secretly been hoping the millionaire would be able to play her own personal Santa Claus and give her one of the things that she had always wanted.
"You should go and see John on Christmas day," Finch said after what seemed like forever.
"John?" Sameen asked, a little surprised. "But why him?"
"Because I have things I'll be doing on Christmas day and I think Miss Root will be on assignment somewhere else," Finch answered. "But John will be all alone and you know how he's been since Detective Carter passed. I think you two would make the perfect match that day. Maybe next year all of us can get together and celebrate Christmas the right way."
"If we're all still alive next year," Sameen said dryly.
"Now Miss Shaw, is that any attitude to have?" Finch answered. "We need to have hope that everything will be fine. Hope is one of the only things we have left in the war against Samaritan."
Sameen released a deep breath. She had lost hope a long time ago, but she found that she couldn't argue with him even though she kind of wanted to. So, she changed the subject.
"So, should I just show up at John's house and surprise him?"
Finch smiled. "Well, he might not like it but then he doesn't always know what's best for him. Does he?"
Sameen smiled, surprising John Reese was one of her favorite things to do.
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Christmas morning, she looked up at him. He was sitting at his window, staring sightlessly out at the snow flurries dancing in the sky. Sameen watched him for a moment and then she hurried up his stoop and pressed the button to ring up to his apartment. A few seconds later, he was asking who was there.
"It's me!" Sameen answered.
"Sameen?" John asked.
"No, it's the Duchess of Cambridge," she replied sarcastically. "Let me in, please! It's freezing out here!"
A second later, he had buzzed her in and she was hurrying up the stairs to his apartment. He was standing in the doorway, waiting for her with a frown and his arms crossed.
"Sameen, what are you doing here?" He asked.
"I didn't want to spend Christmas alone again," Sameen answered.
"Why couldn't you bother Root then?"
"Because she was busy," Sameen retorted. "Besides, she's usually the one who's bothering me. Not the other way around. Harold suggested I come and see you today, so here I am."
"Because you always follow orders," John said as he closed the door.
Sameen didn't reply, she just took her coat off and dropped it on the couch, making herself right at home. "Nice place you have here."
"Sorry I haven't had you over before now," John answered blandly. "But you know, between trying to save New York and concentrate on the number of the week, I never seem to have time for company."
"I know what you mean," Sameen said, nodding. "Our job leaves little time for social life. But just for today, let's pretend we're normal."
"We're not normal," John told her. "We'll never be normal."
"I know," Sameen answered. "But let's just pretend for today."
"I didn't think you liked Christmas," John said.
"There are a lot of things you don't know about me," Sameen told him as she walked over to his stereo player and put one of her favorite Christmas albums in it. "Like how much I love Christmas despite my killer exterior."
"I just made coffee a little bit ago, would you like some?" John asked.
Sameen smiled and went to the kitchen to unload the groceries she had brought. "I have gingerbread creamer."
"I thought you were a black coffee kind of girl."
"Eleven months out of the year," Sameen replied. "What? Can't a girl be a little interesting?"
"Oh, you're interesting alright. I never knew just how interesting you were though."
"Is that a bad thing?" Sameen asked, splashing the gingerbread creamer into her coffee before stirring it up and taking a sip. "So, do you want to make a Christmas dinner and then watch both versions of Miracle on 34th Street?"
"I don't have anything for Christmas dinner," John told her.
"I went to the store last night," Sameen said. "You would not believe how crowded it was on Christmas Eve. I thought I was going to kill somebody."
"I'm surprised you didn't."
"Very funny John. Anyways, if we want dinner to be done in time for dinner then we should start cooking now. Could you preheat the oven to 325 so we could start the ham?"
John looked at her incredulously and then went to turn the stove on like she had asked. He brought her a pan for the ham and watched as she dumped it in unceremoniously.
"Did you wash your hands?" He asked.
"No, but it isn't like I touched it!" Sameen answered, rolling up her sleeves and going to his sink, making a show of washing her hands for him. "Do you have any brown sugar?"
"Do I look like the kind of person who has brown sugar?"
"Right. Well, I guess we'll have to make do then."
"I didn't know you knew how to cook."
"I don't," Sameen answered. "I'm just winging it."
"Maybe we should just order Chinese food," John suggested.
Sameen made a face and proceeded to dump maraschino cherries and pineapple rings on the ham. "Chinese food isn't a traditional Christmas dinner though. And I want a traditional Christmas dinner. Are you going to help or not?"
"What do you want me to do?" John asked.
"You could peel the potatoes," Sameen said.
John found a vegetable peeler and started to peel potatoes like she had asked him to. He was relieved when his phone rang a few minutes later; he abandoned his task and went into his bedroom to take the call.
"Is Sameen with you?" Finch asked after they had greeted each other.
"Yes," John answered, looking out into the kitchen where Sameen was cursing out his stove. "And this Shaw is just as scary as the other one. Why did you send her to see me today anyways?"
"Because you were the only one who didn't have anything to do today and she confided in me that she always wanted to have a real Christmas."
"I can't give her a real Christmas though," John said. "Not in the way she wants at least. I don't even have a Christmas tree or lights. And I most certainly don't have presents. I wasn't expecting visitors today; in fact I would just prefer to be alone."
"Exactly, you two need each other. Try and enjoy her company, please. I have to go now; I have a mountain of papers to grade. I'll talk to you later John. Merry Christmas!"
The call ended before John could say anything else and he was left to help Sameen make her Christmas dinner.
"Everything okay?" Sameen asked, wielding a butcher's knife. "Don't tell me that we have another number."
"No number," John assured her. "Finch was just calling to see if we were together and to wish us a Merry Christmas. He's swamped with grading papers."
"Oh," Sameen said. "Okay. Well, come on. We still have lots to do if we want to have everything ready in time for dinner."
They were finished cooking by six. Sameen had set the table with a white tablecloth and candles she had found stashed away in his linen closet, her idea to watch movies while they ate was all but forgotten.
She had taken down her hair from its tight ponytail and it fell in loose waves around her shoulders. She had dimmed all his lights and a small portion of his apartment had been transformed into something from a Christmas movie while Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas played on the stereo, a theme song for their lives at the moment.
"Dinner is ready John," Sameen announced proudly as she took a seat at the table. "Would you please come and slice the ham?"
He wouldn't admit it to her but it was almost fun pretending they didn't have any problems in the world and that they were like everybody else, happily spending Christmas day together. When they had gotten the kitchen cleaned up and watched both versions of Miracle on 34th Street, it was late and she was yawing and saying something about going home.
John stopped in his tracks when he realized he was sorry to see her go.
Once again, Finch had realized exactly what they needed and given it to them both. John kind of smiled as Shaw frowned, curious to know what was on his mind. He told her not to worry about it as he tucked a blanket around her and put on another Christmas movie, prolonging her leaving a little longer.
Sameen smiled too when she realized he wanted her to stay, she murmured Merry Christmas, feeling contented in the fact that she had finally gotten the Christmas she had always wanted.
_The End_
Author's Note II:
I am anxiously awaiting your thoughts about this. It has been haunting me since I wrote it a few weeks ago. So, if you liked it please take the time to leave a review and tell me! Thanks a bunch.
Holly, 12/15/2014_