A Christmas Carol

Author: LudoJudo
Summary: Dylan and Lofty listen to A Christmas Carol. Based on the episode 'Home For Christmas'.
Pairing: Dylan and Lofty (aka Ben)...or Dyfty.
Rating: PG.
Notes: This hasn't been checked, so sorry about that. I use commas wherever I
want and my spelling is the worst. I did my best with Word and the Merriam-Webster app, so fingers crossed.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to BBC, Casualty, the shows various writers and probably a few other people, just not me, unfortunately:(
Feedback: If you want to, sure. But please be kind, I have a delicate system!

"God bless us, everyone."

The narration of A Christmas Carol ended and the quite whirr of the unused cassette tape spun in the player, gently filling the lounge. Lofty sneaked a glance at Dylan, the smallest of smiles playing at the corner of his mouth, unnoticeable to most but not to Lofty.

Dylan's brow furrowed above his bright yellow shirt, as if confused by the contented feeling he felt. The play button of the tape machine jumped up with a click making Dervla raise her head from her square cushion, make a slight whine at the intrusion into her dream, then drop her head back onto the cushion and resume her phantasm. The harsh noise brought Dylan back to the present, he looked over to Lofty with only silence and the soft Christmas tree lights between them. Lofty was still watching him with interest.

"What?" Questioned, Dylan.

"Nothing." Lofty smiled.

"No, something. What?"

"'I don't listen to the end. It's a bit silly.'" Lofty paraphrased. "Yada Yada. 'It's a bit twee.'"

"Well it is." Dylan said coyly.

"You loved it."

"I didn't love it. I. I don't remember it being quite so, I don't know, poignant."

Lofty watched Dylan with interest. He'd gotten to know him well over the last few months and had started to understand his frailties and foibles. He knew there was something else he was preparing to say, he could see Dylan forming the sentence to get it exactly right.

"Do you think Scrooge changed forever, after that Christmas Eve or do you think he reverted back to the old Ebenezer without realising?"

Lofty could hear a slight anxiety in Dylan's voice.

"Well, erm, I think that's the point of the story. That he learnt his lesson and mended his ways."

Dylan looked at Lofty, pondering what he'd just said. "Do you think I need to change?"

"You." He overemphasised the first word. "...Are not Scrooge, Dylan. You don't need to change a thing."

"I never listen to the end of the story because I've never understood it. I can't relate to the happy ending." He leaned his elbow on the arm of the sofa and rested his fingertips against his temple feeling relaxed and comfortable in Lofty's presence. "My mother, and well you meet my father. It wasn't exactly the Crachitt's. I get Scrooge. I understand him. He's alone but he's not hurt."

"Hurt?" Lofty questioned.

"Hurt by other people, of what they think of him."

"Scrooge cared what people thought of him otherwise he wouldn't have listened to the ghosts.

He'd have told them to get lost." Lofty suggested.

"Arhh, the scene Alistair Sim refused to film!"

Lofty laughed. "You know what I mean. Everyone cares what people think of them but you can't change yourself to please them because then you'd be someone else."

Dylan knew Lofty well enough to know this was going to be one of his rambling speeches. He gently smiled as Lofty continued.

"...Then the people who liked the old you might not like the new you. You'll never please everyone. I don't want you to change. I want the Dylan that I know and love."

Dylan scrutinised Lofty, seeing if there was a hint of regret in his choice of words but the young nurse showed no sign of regret, just a small smile and an air of hope.

"Well, ok then. I better not change." He smiled.

"Actually..." And here it is Dylan though. "...there is one thing you could change."

Dylan waited for the revelation. Lofty paused and then hit him with it.

"That shirt. It's hideous."