A/N: OK. Here's a little plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. It's a futurefic. Enjoy.
Santa
"Ella? Are you ready to see, Santa?" Lois asked her three-year-old daughter, who was currently clinging to her father's neck. The child nodded vigorously, her almond shaped, sea green eyes wide and excited.
"What are you gonna ask him for, Sweetheart?" Clark chimed in, bouncing the little girl in his arms.
"Presents!" Ella announced decidedly to her parents, giggling.
Lois and Clark smiled. Santa Clause was all Ella Kent had talked about for weeks. Her mother and father had been adamant about showing her pictures and talking about him and explaining, as best they could to a toddler, who St. Nick was and what he meant for Christmas. Ella had devoured their words with enthusiasm and was overjoyed when she found out she was actually going to meet the man himself.
Lois, on the other hand, didn't share her daughter's exuberance. She leaned against the stroller that held her six-month-old son, Jonathon, trying to relieve some the pressure from her aching feet. She hated malls- and shopping- and crowds- the whole damned thing!
"You OK, Mama?" Clark asked, noticing his wife's pained frown. He shifted their daughter from one side to the other so she could get a better look at the man in red. They were almost to the front of the line.
Lois nodded, smiling weakly, "just tired."
As if on cue, Jonathon started wiggling in his seat, whining impatiently. Lois sighed and reached for him, unbuckling his restraints and lifting him into the air. "Someone else is tired, too," she observed, when the baby laid his head against her shoulder, his tiny fingers grabbing tightly to the fabric of her shirt. Lois patted his back and swayed back and forth, praying he would stay awake until after the picture was taken.
It had been a long day. A good day, though, she had to admit. But they'd been in the mall since ten o'clock that morning and it was almost six thirty, now. Ella had missed her nap and Jonathon was completely off of his feeding schedule, but she and Clark had managed to get all of their holiday shopping done in one fail swoop- she was counting today as a victory.
"There he is!" Clark whispered, dramatically to Ella when they were at the front of the line. "There's Santa Clause!" Lois noticed how her daughter suddenly tensed, all of the delight in the child's expression quickly evaporated.
Uh-oh.
"Ella and Jonathon?" The teenage girl behind the camera questioned. Clark nodded.
"Go on up," the girl smiled.
Lois pushed the stroller in and around, parking it next to the wobbly railing so that it was out of the way.
Clark had already set Ella down on the ground and was coaxing the girl to go up and sit on Santa's lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. However, instead of running up to the strange man with the white beard, she grasped onto her father's calf like a vice.
"No!"
Lois and Clark exchanged looks.
Lois crouched down, shifting Jonathon to her other hip. "It's OK, Jelly Bean. Santa's a nice man. Remember? He brings you presents."
In response, Ella buried her head further into Clark's jeans. Lois tried another approach.
"Don't you want to get your picture taken with your brother? Can't you be brave for Jon-Jon?"
The child shook her head, violently against her father's leg, "No, Santa!"
"Lois maybe we should-" Clark started, but Lois cut him off.
"Oh, no. We're getting a picture. I don't care if she's throwing a fit. The crying one's are the best anyway."
Clark shrugged, "OK. But I'm probably going to have to hold her," he lowered his voice and leaned in toward his wife. "I don't want her accidentally hurting Santa." He whispered meaningfully.
Lois, unenthusiastically, agreed. "I'll be in it too, then. Might as well make it a family affair. It can be our Christmas card this year."
Clark bent down and managed to pry Ella off of his leg and lifted her. "C'mon baby, mommy and daddy will go with you." He soothed. As they stepped Closer to Santa, Ella tightened her hold on Clark, the knuckles on her little fingers turning white.
"Hi, Santa." Clark went down one knee in front of the man.
"Can you give me a high five?" Santa asked, Ella, whose face was snuggly pressed into her father's neck. Apparently, she was using 'if I can't see them, they can't see me,' logic.
"Look, honey," Clark said, slapping the costumed man's hand, gently, "daddy gave Santa a high five."
Ella peaked out at him, momentarily, but when Santa smiled and held out his gloved palm to her, she shrieked with fear and scrambled in Clark's grasp, "daddy!"
"I'm right here, Jelly Bean." Clark gave Santa a helpless grin.
"Are you ready?" The blonde girl behind the camera asked, a bit impatiently.
Lois sighed. "Yeah, even if she's screaming take the picture."
Santa scooted to the far side of his large green throne and Lois passed Jonathon to him. Unlike his sister, Jonathon liked Santa- Santa was warm and fuzzy. Then Lois, sat next to Old St. Nick and Clark Kneeled on one knee in front, on the opposite side, Ella propped up on his extended leg- wailing like someone was torturing her- her arms out stretched toward her father.
The teenager behind the camera pulled out a rattle and started shaking it. "Look up
here Ella! Jonathon!"
The three year old, couldn't have cared less- she just wanted her daddy.
"Ella, look at the camera!" Lois leaned over, just as the camera flashed.
"Mom and dad keeping looking up here and smiling, I'll take care of the kids!" The photographer instructed. She shook the rattle again, throwing it up into the air.
The movement momentarily distracted Ella and she quickly turned her head toward it.
Flash.
The little girl seemed stunned for a few seconds, then she remember where she was and the tears started falling again. Clark jiggled his knee in an attempt to make her smile, but it didn't help. The only thing that was going to stop the screaming was being away from Santa Claus, and that was just where Ella intended to be, far, far away from the strange giant man in the red suit. She wriggled furiously, attempting to, as quickly as possible, slip off of her father's knee. But Clark was too fast for her, he caught her mid-fall.
Flash.
After the final picture was taken and Clark thanked Santa and swept Ella into his arms as he rose to his feet. The little girl cried into his shoulder, hugging his neck tightly. Lois grabbed her sleeping, drooling, baby off of the poor costumed man and smiled apologetically. "Sorry."
"I've had worse, don't worry," he assured her with a wink.
As Lois buckled Jonathon back into his stroller she heard her husband's chuckle.
"Lois, you've got to see these. They're hilarious!"
Lois went to her husband's side and couldn't help, but start laughing too.
"This is one," the photographer said.
Ella's face was turned to a smiling Clark and Lois was leaning over across Santa's lap, scowling at her daughter, while Jonathon yawned in Santa's arms.
"Two."
Both parents were smiling up at the camera- the baby was sleeping and Ella looked like a deer caught in the headlights- her eyes like saucers, and her face red and blotchy from crying.
"And three."
"This one." Lois said, immediately.
Once again Clark and Lois were both smiling obediently at the camera. The second flash seemed to have woken Jonathon for a few moments, he looked annoyed- or as annoyed as a baby can look. Ella was wailing. Her mouth open, tears streaming down her cheeks, her face bright scarlet. She was leaning forward, hovering over Clark's leg, his hands under her arms.
"That one is perfect!" Clark agreed.
The pictures printed out in a few minutes and Clark paid, while Lois took the stroller and the children out into the main area of the mall. It had practically taken the Jaws of Life to peel the Ella off of her father. But as soon as they left the Santa set, Ella's tears had dried and she held her mother's hand while they waited.
When Clark found them, he handed Ella a coloring book and placed a of paper hat that looked like elf ears on top of her head. "From Santa," he told her. She beamed up at him.
"Mommy, look!" The three year old spun around and held up her book for Lois to see. The reporter 'oohed and ahhed' appropriately, then changed the subject, cheerfully. "C'mon Sweet pea, let's go home and make daddy cook us some dinner," She innocently suggested.
Clark opened his mouth to protest, but his daughter squealed with delight and stared up at him with hopeful eyes, asking if he could make his special 'sghetti and meat balls.' How could he say no to that face? She looked way too much like her mother, sometimes.
"All right, Jelly Bean." He gave in reluctantly, looking up just in time to catch his wife's triumphant smirk.
Ella held her parents' hands as they rode up the escalator, fidgeting slightly. Their car was on the second floor of the parking garage and there was short cut through Macy's. When they reached the top, Ella wrenched her hands free from Lois and Clark's grip and ran to the banister with the see-through glass. She squished her face against it and looked down on Santa- sitting on his green throne. She waved frantically, and cried out with glee, "Santa!"
END
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A/N: Well, What did you think?