Happy Holidays.
Takes place pre-season 1 because I'm running out of Christmas ideas.
I do not own.
"Six? I need to talk to you." Holiday looked up as he entered the lab.
Six paused. Whenever they had to talk it made him nervous. "About what?" He asked flatly.
Holiday cleared her throat. "You know it's Rex's first Christmas with us." She began.
Six raised an eyebrow. "So?"
"So... I think it's important that we do something for him. You know, to acclimate him to life here." She continued.
"I don't think White Knight would authorize... this activity."
Holiday waved a hand dismissively. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him." She answered.
Although his face didn't change, Holiday could hear the disapproval in his voice. "So we are going to hold an illegal gathering?"
"You make it sound like we're going to do something bad." Holiday leaned back in her seat. "There's already a tree in the rec room. We just need some presents under the tree."
"Presents?" Six asked.
"Yes, presents. You can't have Christmas without any presents..." She thought a moment. "And fruit cake."
"You're not making it, are you?" Six actually sounded apprehensive.
Holiday wasn't sure if she should be insulted or amused. "Heaven's no! My Nanna sent me one in the mail. It almost gave the poor mailman a hernia."
"That's all good and well but I'm not sure that's such a good idea."
Holiday detected a note of relief in his voice. She decided that she was insulted.
"Oh come on, don't be a stick in the mud. You don't even have to do anything. Just show up and look pretty." Holiday crossed her arms stubbornly. "It'll be fun for him."
"Rex doesn't need fun; he needs more training." Six replied.
Holiday rolled her eyes. "He's just a kid. You keep working him like this and he's going to drop."
"When I was his age, I trained twice as hard, and I turned out fine." Six protested.
"Well, that proves that Rex needs this lest he turns into a humorless drone." Holiday huffed. A second letter she regretted it. He always brought out the worse in her but she shouldn't take her frustrations out on him. She tried again. "Listen, I'm going to do this with or without you but I thought it would be better if you were part of it. He looks up to you, you know."
"He shouldn't." Six stated. "I'm his handler, nothing more."
"Boloney!" Holiday snorted. "Whether you like it or not, you're the closest thing he has to a guardian right now. So act like it." She stood up with her arms crossed daring him to contradict her.
Six wanted to walk out without committing to anything. But like always, he found himself acquiescing to her. "Fine, what do you have in mind?"
0o0
Rex sat in the corner of his closet of a room. He threw the comic he had been reading across the room. "Ugh, I'm so bored."
"We can put plastic wrap on all the toilet seats." Bobo suggested from his hammock.
"Nah… maybe later." Rex said. "I want to go do something."
"The boss man wouldn't like that." Bobo replied.
"Since when did you care?" Rex asked.
"Oh, I don't. Just establishing the facts." Bobo pushed himself off the hammock. "Where to chief?"
"How about we drive until we get somewhere?" Rex grinned. Closing his eyes, his legs transformed into a bike.
"You like that bike." Bobo observed as he climbed behind him.
"Of course! What 10 year old can make their own motorcycle? And it's called my Rex Ride!" Rex asked as he pulled his goggles over his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah you've bragged about it a million times already. Let's get going before the higher ups realize we're gone." Bobo urged.
Rex started his bike. The door slid open and out they went down the hall. Just as they were about to hit the exit, Calan stood in the way.
"Woah, there partner. And where do you think you're going?" He asked.
"Uh no where, we're just stretching our legs." Rex smiled unnaturally.
Calan smirked. "Sure you are. How about you go back to your room until you're called?"
"Awww, it's so boring." Rex groaned.
"Well, I'm sure you can entertain each other." Calan shooed them. "Now off you two go… and you better make it manual like. The custodians have been complaining about the skid marks."
Rex reabsorbed his build and turned around. Bobo looked at Calan disdainfully and stuck out his tongue before following Rex. Calan merely shook his head before returning to his job.
"I know another exit." Rex whispered to Bobo when they were out of earshot.
"So do I." Bobo said.
"The roof." They both said at the same time.
"Ah, great minds think alike." Bobo grinned. They made their way to the rooftop. When they got to the windswept platform, Bobo looked down.
"That's an awful long drop." He commented. He turned to look at Rex critically. "You sure you can make that flying thingy."
"The Boogie Pack? Sure!… Well, pretty sure… okay not 100% sure, but I got it to go once." Rex answered stubbornly.
"Hey, I'd rather not up as a furry pancake at the bottom of the ravine." Bobo declared.
Rex stepped onto the ledge. "I'm sure I can do it again."
"Uh chief… maybe we should go…" Bobo started saying.
"No! I'm not going back to the room." Rex pulled the goggles over his eyes. "Thrill me!" He yelled before leaping off.
"Wait!" Bobo's cries were ignored.
As Rex plummeted to the ground, he tried to grow his Boogie Pack. Nothing happened. "Oh come on!" The ground was fast approaching.
Just as he was about to smash into the ground, his Smack Hands sprouted. A mushroom cloud of dust and debris covered the area. When it cleared, Rex appeared in the center of an enormous crater. He coughed and waved his hand to clear the air. Looking around he grimaced. "Six's gonna kill me." He groaned.
"No kidding." Bobo materialized by his elbow.
"Agh!" Rex jumped back in surprise. "How did you get down here so fast?"
Bobo pointed at a seat affixed to pulley system. "I was trying to tell you that the window washer left his gear."
"Well, at any rate we're out. Let's go exploring!" He formed his Rex Ride again. Bobo hopped on and they rode off into the distance.
0o0
"Six!"
Six heard his name bellowed through the comlink in his ear. He nearly winced as he answered. "Six here."
"Can you tell me why there is a giant crater outside the base and two EVOs missing?" White asked in a condescending manner.
Six briefly thought a sarcastic answer before thinking the better of it. "I don't believe so."
"I highly suggest you go find the weapon and its sidekick and bring them back." White said through his teeth. "Before I take matters into my own hands." There was a loud bang to end the call.
Six wondered how it was possible for White to slam a comlink button.
"What's up?" Holiday asked looking up from her wrapping paper.
"Rex ran off again." He picked up his jacket that had hung on a chair.
"Again?" Holiday groaned. "Well, you better find him before White blows a fuse."
"He already has." He shrugged into his jacket. Looking down at the present he had been wrapping, he cleared his throat.
"Don't worry. I'll finish wrapping it for you." She slid his half wrapped gift towards her.
"Thank you." He merely said as he headed out.
"And you don't fool me for a minute. It's pretty unlikely that you happened to have an unopened gift lying around." She smirked.
"You can think what you like." He said before the door slid closed.
Holiday turned back to the wrapping paper with a smile on her face.
0o0
An hour later Rex and Bobo found themselves at the mall. People bustled by ignoring them.
"Wow, look at all this stuff." Rex looked around in wonder. "What is it?"
"You're kidding? You don't know about Christmas?" Bobo asked incredulously.
"I… I… I…It looks familiar." Rex said uncertainly. "It's a holiday right?"
"It's THE holiday!" Bobo declared. "There are presents, and fruit cake, and egg nog, and trees, and egg nog, and wreaths, and poinsettias, and did I mention egg nog?"
"What's egg nog?" Rex wrinkled his nose.
"Chief, if you haven't tried egg nog, you haven't lived. But we got to get you the good stuff. Not that low cal crap." Bobo started pulling him towards the food court.
"Excuse me, son. Animals are not allowed in the mall." A security officer said.
"Uh, he's my uh seeing eye monkey." Rex lied.
The security guard looked skeptical. "You don't seem to have trouble seeing."
"What? Who's talking?" Rex's arms flew out trying to feel his way around. He turned his head wildly as if trying to figure who was talking.
"Look, keep the animal on a tight leash. Any problems and I'm throwing you both out." The security guard left muttering about the weirdos coming out on Christmas.
"Quick!" Bobo grabbed Rex and they moved to the food court.
They stood in front of the Christmas snack stall before they suddenly realized something… no money.
"Great, now what?" Rex's pockets produced two buttons, a paper clip, and some lint. Bobo fared none the better.
"Never fear." Bobo assured him. He casually walked past a kiosk and picked up a kazoo. He handed Rex the instrument.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Rex stared at it.
"Can you play a tune?" Bobo asked.
"I've never even seen this thing before." Rex protested.
"Here. Stick it in your mouth and blow in it." Bobo shoved one end into Rex's mouth before he could protest. "Now you know that annoying tune we've been hearing for the last twenty minutes?"
Rex nodded since he couldn't talk.
"Just hum that into the thing." Bobo cracked his knuckles. "Leave the rest to Bobo."
Rex frowned. At first he wasn't able to make any sounds until a noise like a duck emitted from the end of the instrument. His eyes lit up as he realized what he had to do. Soon a shaky rendition of Jingle Bells filled the food court. Bobo placed his fez on the ground. He began dancing and doing acrobatics. People stopped to watch. A few people tossed some coins into the fez. A small crowd gathered and a few dollars were also thrown in.
"Hey, you can't panhandle here!" Some security guards shouted.
Bobo grabbed his fez with the loot and yanked Rex along. They lost the guards in the shopping crowd.
"How much did we make?" Rex asked panting.
Bobo shook his fez. "Three dollars, 53 cents, and a bottle cap."
"That's not a lot." Rex frowned. He spotted a vending machine. "Well, at least we can get a drink." He walked over and placed his hand on the machine. Two cans dropped into the slot.
They popped the lid and took a swig. Bobo spit his out. "What is this?" He glared at the can. "Turkey and gravy?"
"I like it." Rex said chugging his down.
"Couldn't you have gotten a normal flavor?" Bobo looked at the vending machine.
"You want pickle fizz instead?" Rex asked putting his hand on the machine.
"Yuck! Let's find a normal vending machine." Bobo tossed his can into the trash.
"Hey! Stop you two!" A security guard yelled.
"It's the coppers! Cheese it!" Bobo ran off followed by Rex. Once again they lost the guard by running into a department store. Walking into the fitting room to hide, they saw some discarded clothes on the floor. There were no tags.
"I have an idea." Bobo said.
A minute later they left the fitting room in different clothing. Bobo was wearing a trench coat and fedora. A scarf hid his face. Rex wore an army green jacket over his red one.
Making sure the coast was clear they walked out.
"Mom?" A blond boy popped his head out of the fitting room. "Where's my jacket?"
Rex and Bobo walked through the mall freely. After wandering around , Bobo noticed Rex was awful quiet.
"What's up, chief?" Bobo asked.
Rex shrugged. "I don't know. Everything feels familiar, like a dream but… every time I try to remember… it disappears."
"Yeah, amnesia sucks." Bobo scratched his backside.
"Do you think I should get a gift for Six or Doc?" He asked suddenly.
"What for? They don't need anything…. Hey, what about me?" Bobo crossed his arms.
"Well, obviously if I get them gifts, I'd get you one too." Rex answered.
Bobo mollified by the answer, graciously answered, "I guess it is Christmas. But with three dollars, what can you get?"
Rex scowled thinking. Looking around, his face lit up. "I know. Come on."
Bobo followed, curious as to what Rex had in mind.
0o0
People were circling the parking lot looking for spots. Two people tried to pull their car into the same spot. Sticking their heads out, they shouted at each other to move. A large shadow overed them. Looking up, they both gasped and pulled their car back. A small Providence jet landed right in the spot. The wings overshadowed the other cars on either side. The hatch popped open and Six jumped out.
The two men looked at him as he casually walked into the mall.
Six entered the crowded shopping center. As he scanned the area, he heard two security guards talking.
"That boy with monkey is still on the loose. Keep your eyes peeled."
Six knew he was in the right place. He walked to the map of the mall. Taking a quick peek he found what he was looking for. A few minutes later he spotted them.
Walking quietly he clamped a hand on both their shoulders.
Rex and Bobo jumped.
"How… how did you find us?" Rex stammered.
"Intuition." He replied steering them to the exit.
"But we could have been anywhere." Bobo protested.
"And yet I always find you by the food court." Six said.
"He got us there." Bobo admitted.
"Hey, Six, since we're here, how about some egg nog?" Rex asked.
Six stopped at the odd request. "What?"
"Yeah, Bobo says you need egg nog for Christmas."
"The good stuff." Bobo added.
"You wouldn't like it." Six said.
"But how do I know if I don't try? Aren't you and Doc always telling me to try new stuff…" Rex babbled.
"If I get you egg nog, will you be quiet?" Six asked.
Rex and Bobo looked at each other. "We promise."
Six went to the Christmas stall.
0o0
"That was disgusting." Rex said as they landed in Providence's hanger.
"That from a kid who drank Turkey and gravy soda." Bobo scoffed.
"Sorry about your suit." Rex told Six sheepishly.
"Go to your room." Six said flatly.
"Um, Six… you know tomorrow is Christmas." Rex began.
"Not now, just go to your room. Stay there otherwise you're spending the afternoon filling in that hole you made."
"What hole… oh." Rex had forgotten. "Okay going."
Bobo stood as Rex walked away.
"You too, Bobo." Six snapped.
"I didn't make that hole." Bobo protested.
"But I can fill it with you." Six threatened.
"Leaving." Bobo quickly scampered away.
Six pinched the bridge of his nose.
"What happened to your suit?" Six almost sighed as he turned to face Holiday.
"Long story. Presents wrapped?" He asked.
Holiday's face lit up which made him feel slightly less grumpy. "Yes, everything's set. I can't wait till tomorrow."
"That makes one of us." He muttered.
"Why do you smell like egg nog?" Holiday sniffed.
"I'm going to change." Six turned and left leaving Holiday looking puzzled.
0o0
The next morning Rex was greeted with a knock at the door.
"Cinco minutos más, mamá." Rex muttered in his sleep.
The knocking continued. A pillow hit him in the face. He snorted awake.
"It's for you, chief." Bobo said from his hammock.
Rex sleepily went to the door. It was Six.
"Oh come on Six, can't I fill the hole later?" Rex yawned.
"Now." Six pointed.
"Let me get dressed at least." Rex grumbled.
A few minutes later they were walking down the halls of Providence.
"Can we at least eat breakfast first?" Rex asked.
Six was silent.
"I'm sorry that I threw up the egg nog all over you." Rex continued.
Six still didn't say anything.
"Merry Christmas?" Rex tried one more time.
Six stopped in front of a room. Rex realized they were not where he thought they were going.
"Uh, what are we doing at the rec room?" He asked.
Six knocked and the door slid opened.
"Merry Christmas, Rex." He said in his usual monotone fashion.
Holiday stood in front of a tree holding a box out for him.
"For me?" Rex's gaze went from the doctor to Six.
"For you." Holiday smiled handing his the present.
Rex wasted no time in ripping the wrapping. He popped open the lid it was several blue and white t-shirts.
"That's from me." Holiday said as she handed him another box. "That's from Six."
Rex gaped at the box then at Six who stood emotionlessly by. Rex gingerly took the box and carefully tore the wrapping as if it might suddenly explode. When he opened the box, his jaw dropped. He pulled out the state of the art headphones. He looked disbelievingly at it before looking at Six.
"So I don't have to hear your awful music anymore." He said gruffly.
But Rex knew what he meant. He stood as if in a trance. Then he shook himself. "I have something for you guys! Wait here." He shot off. Holiday and Six looked at each other.
A few minutes later Rex reappeared holding something wrapped in tissue. He handed one to Six and one to Holiday.
"It's not much…" He said apologetically.
It was photos from the photo booth. Rex and Bobo had taken some pictures. In the last photo, he held up a sign that read "Merry Christmas. Love Rex."
"It's very nice, Rex. Thank you." Holiday smiled.
"Aww, it was nothing." Rex beamed. He looked at Six.
"Thank you." Six said simply. He took out his wallet and placed it inside.
Rex's smile got even wider.
"Now you need to go fill up that hole." Six said.
"But first have some fruit cake." Holiday held out a slice.
Rex looked at Six. "Will I like it?"
"Probably not." Six said.
"No thanks." Rex waved it away. "I have to trust Six on this one. I don't want to throw up again."
"More for me." Bobo appeared out of no where. He grabbed the slice and stuffed his mouth with it.
"You're coming too." Six took both Rex and Bobo by the arm and led them out.
"Can I eat something first?" Rex protested.
"I didn't finish the fruit cake yet!" Bobo complained.
"We'll grab something quick in the cafeteria and I don't care." Six answered them in order.
Holiday stifled a laugh as she picked up the garbage. Looking fondly at the picture, she whispered. "And to many more Christmases together."
Cinco minutos más, mamá. = Five more minutes, mom.
So why do I feel the need to write a Christmas story every year? I don't know. I hope you liked it. Did you notice a quick mention of Noah?And maybe the origin of Rex's t-shirts and headphones? I thought of making the goggles a Christmas gift but if you remember Double Vision, it didn't look like they were given at Christmas. But I thought it was a sweet episode.
I promise to finish Season 8 and the Halloween story. I hope it will be done by the end of the year barring any family emergencies.
And finally, I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Blessings on you and your family. May the coming year find you healthy and safe. May you grow stronger and wiser everyday. May you find what you are looking for. Thank you for reading my stories. Here's to another year.
God bless.