Each ficlet is a stand alone story, but all have a Christmas or winter theme to them. They are part of my Advent Calendar, which comprises captioned photos and ficlets, alternating each day. To check out the full Calendar, go to my website (see my profile), click on Atlantis, then scroll down to find the Advent Calendar link. This will be updated as the ficlets are posted to my website - last posting will be 25th December 2008.
Nativity
by Leesa Perrie
Sometime after Miller's Crossing, Season 4
This was hell, pure unadulterated hell, and he still wasn't sure how he got talked into this.
One moment he was getting ready for a few hours on his own with his laptop while Jeannie and Kaleb went to see Madison in her school's nativity play, the next he was getting into the car with them and heading to said school.
He'd forgotten how persuasive Jeannie could be when she wanted him to do something he really didn't want to do; saying how upset Maddie, who had taken a liking to him for some unfathomable reason, would be if he wasn't there, and he didn't want to make her cry, did he?
It didn't help that he was still feeling guilty for that whole nanite fiasco.
So, here he was. Watching little kids fumble through their dance routines, mumble lines he couldn't hear, and wasn't interested in hearing even if he could, and listening to out of tune voices murder Christmas carols, with parents clapping and taking photographs, flashes flashing brightly and annoyingly; making out that this was something to be enjoyed rather than endured.
Hell, total and utter hell.
Madison was the only kid in the show who could sing or dance, well, sort of. Certainly she was the best one there, and no, he wasn't being biased.
And if afterwards his heart softened at the sight of Madison's happy face, well, it was just the relief at having survived the play.
He certainly didn't feel all soft and fuzzy when she hugged him.
Not at all.
The End