Disclaimer: They're not mine. Move on, already.
Author's Notes: It seems as though the final episode for the season inspired us writers to do Christmassy fic! Oh well, who's complainin'? ;) Here's another one to the pile!
Summary: Nothing has changed... or so Susie and Evan try to convince themselves.
---
After The Mistletoe
"Thanks again, Jonesy," Chris said as she took a tray of empty glasses off a table. "It's really appreciated. The kids had a great time."
"No worries," he replied, leaning on the bar counter in weariness. Upon volunteering for the role as Santa Claus for the Christmas party, no matter how reluctantly, he had never realised how tiring it was to entertain a bunch of seven to eleven year olds. He had a new appreciation for mothers that had clearly been absent.
"Here." Chris filled up a clean glass and slid it across to him. He looked at the beer warily. "Go on, you deserve it. It's on the house."
"Ah, who am I to argue?" he surrendered easily, grabbing it with a grin. "So, Chrissy, what are your plans?"
"What, for Christmas?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, the same, I suppose," the publican said with a small sigh and a shrug. "Someone's gotta run this place."
"Yeah, well, if Dad decides to kick me out of the house because he can't cope with putting up with only me any longer, then I'll give you a hand," Evan replied.
"Thanks for the offer, but I think there'd be plenty other places you'd be instead," she answered with a smile. He shrugged and drained his glass, putting his glass back down on the counter with flourish. "I'll take care of that, you go before you collapse on your feet," she added, swiftly taking the glass and putting it with the others.
"Alright, thanks Chris. Have a good one!" Evan grinned, standing up and leaving the near-empty pub. The kids had gone home hours ago; the others from the station less so, but they too had decided to retire before the night got too deep. He hadn't seen Susie for a while now; he presumed that she had left when the others had. To some extent this was an easy escape – on the other hand, it was somewhat disappointing. Still, he wasn't one to complain.
Reaching the top of the staircase, he paused. Should he -? Nah, it wasn't worth it. Things happened, and he should just let it go. Bloody tradition, he thought grudgingly.
With a sigh, he determinedly walked passed Susie's door, and unlocked his own. He gave one more fleeting glance in her direction, before closing the door with a resounding click.
They could deal with it tomorrow. They always did.
---
"Nice to see you here," Mark said as way of a greeting when Evan arrived at the station the next morning.
"Slept in, did you, Santa?" PJ said with a grin from the filing cabinet.
"Lay off it, PJ," Evan replied with a self-conscious look. The detective's grin refused to fade as he wandered back into his office, slamming the door closed behind him.
"Oh, I dunno, I thought you made a pretty cute Santa!" Kelly put in, earning a smirk and a chuckle from Joss' direction.
"Stick with your day job, Constable," Mark rebuked severely to Evan, intended as the last word of the conversation, yet only encouraging the probationary constables as the teasing went on. "Enough!" he finally exclaimed. "Constables, I believe the boss is expecting those traffic reports by midday?" The two young officers returned, albeit unwillingly, to their paperwork.
Evan, privately thankful to the sergeant for saving him from the increased mortification, proceeded to the mess room to put away his belongings. Upon entering, he stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of Susie, who was taking a mug out of the cupboard for her first morning coffee.
"Morning," he greeted after a moment, heading for his locker.
She looked up, surprised at the interruption. "Morning." She continued spooning the coffee granules into her cup. Silence ensued as they kept to themselves, until Evan closed his locker door with a bang.
"Look, Suse..." he began, turning to her, without knowing what he was going to say.
She seemed to pick up his hesitance. "Nah, Jonesy, forget it," she said easily, putting her used spoon in the sink and clutching her mug. "You know, things happen, but..." she shrugged, "Don't worry about it, okay?"
"Right." He seemed relieved she had spoken the words he had trouble getting out. "Thanks."
"No worries." She shrugged again, unperturbed. She gave him a casual smile, before leaving the room.
So, he thought when he found himself alone in the mess room. She had spoken, and despite her saying exactly what he had been trying to spit out, he felt a tad disappointment to their mutual reaction. So long, it had been, since they had ever initiated anything every happening – and it had wound down to this. But that was okay, he decided, because it meant he – they – would get another chance. For now, he would have to settle for that.
He just wondered how long it would last.
---
"Right, I need people out on traffic patrol," Mark announced later on in the day. "The Inspector has informed me of an increase of speeding vehicles on the western edge of Ketcher's Gorge."
"I'll go," Joss volunteered immediately.
"Count me in," Kelly added, just as quickly. They glared at each other, desperately wanting the other to remain at the station while they went out.
"I heard there would be a cocaine bust in an hour, Peroni," PJ remarked, overhearing the conversation.
"Really?" Joss didn't seem to see through the detective's humour. "Oh, maybe I'll pass this time then."
"You idiot, Peroni," Kelly said disdainfully, "He's just saying that."
"That's enough, O'Rourke," Mark intervened. "Since Joss seems to be too gullible, and you seem too happy to insult your colleague, I'll have to send Jones and Raynor."
"Sar-arge!" The two probationary constables whined simultaneously.
"How can we learn if you don't let us?" Kelly added.
"Another time," Mark replied. "Evan, Susie, off you go."
"Sure," Susie answered, standing up from her desk. Evan followed suit.
"Sure there's no mistletoe in the car?" Joss asked snarkily, still not pleased with the arrangements. Susie stopped, halfway out the door. Evan paused, wondering what she was going to say.
"If there was, I'd give it to a needier cause," she retorted, making it clear who she was talking about.
"She got you, Joss," Kelly grinned, unable to hide her glee.
Mark frowned. "What's this?"
"Nothing, Sarge, just Joss making an issue out of nothing whatsoever," Susie said airily, before continuing on her way out the door. Doing so, she missed the second of hurt that flashed upon Evan's face. However, he quickly brushed it off.
"Right," Mark said, still suspicious but realising that no matter how much he wanted to, he would never know everything that went on in the station.
---
Evan was decidedly silent as he drove to Ketcher's Gorge Road, somewhat unusual for him, but Susie let it pass her by. Today was not a good day to be questioning him on an emotional level, she thought.
"Reckon the road will be busy?" she asked, eventually breaking the silence.
"Nah, it's only a Tuesday – the trucks usually start coming in on Thursdays in time for the weekend," he replied flatly.
She nodded. "Fair enough."
More silence, and it unnerved her. So what if something had happened at the pub last night? It was a Christmas party, for heaven's sake! She wasn't bothered by it, and was doing her best to get things back to normal; yet he seemed determined to make it near impossible. Perhaps it was unintentional, she mused, but he still did it.
"You were good with the kids last night," she said, deciding that perhaps if they talked about it, they could get it sorted and out of the way, and onto their police work like they should.
"Yeah?" He looked uncomfortable. "Well, they're easily entertained."
"With the Santa they had, how could they resist him?" she added rhetorically, then stopped abruptly. "Sorry, I didn't mean -"
"Don't worry about it," he waved it off, keeping his eyes on the road.
She paused, and gave him a glance. "Jonesy, can we just talk about this and then move on?"
"Sure, whatever you want to do," he replied, knowing that he had been somewhat indifferent and probably rather hard to talk to. He used to be the one to push people, the one who always made his feelings clear. Ever persistent, obvious what he wanted. Yet that method of his had caused him more harm than good, and so consequently, he had learnt to swim rather than dive into the deep end. Even if it did put him in the wrong light with his colleague.
"Okay." She fell silent, not knowing where to start. "Look, it was just the whole Christmas party thing, you know," she finally ventured. "The kids, how they were doing the whole mistletoe, and tradition... whatever that is, nowadays," she muttered to no one in particular. "What I'm trying to say, is that it was just for fun – it shouldn't have to change anything."
"Yeah, sure," he nodded in acceptance. Accepting her words were easy – hell, he whole-heartedly agreed with her – it was just acting upon them that was proving to be slightly more difficult. For so long had they pushed any feelings aside that they may have had for one another; it had been months since they had acknowledged it. It was always so much easier to ignore it and act 'normally'.
"Are you going to say anything?" she asked, cutting through his thoughts.
He shrugged. "Nah – I mean, I agree with you. Nothing's changed, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Good."
"Mmm-hmm."
They exchanged a smile, and then the constables sighed to themselves as they looked out their respective sides of the window, both wondering if the other believed it.
---
The tinsel was beginning to wane in its sparkle, Evan noted that night at the Imperial as he sipped his beer.
"What's on your mind, Jonesy?" PJ asked, sitting down beside him at the copper's usual table.
"Tinsel falling down," he replied, nodding towards a place where it was starting to unpin itself from the doorway.
"Ah well, that happens, you know," the detective said logically. "Have you seen the boss?"
"Off for another early night, I s'pose," Evan shrugged. PJ frowned, looking worried and disappointed. "Why?"
"Nah, it's nothing, mate," he assured the constable. "Just might go around to his place and check that he's alright." PJ checked his watch, and pushed himself away from the table. "Actually, I might go now. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, seeya," Evan replied impassively, draining his glass of the amber liquid. He too stood up and wandered over to the bar. "Another one, thanks Chris," he said, putting his glass down on the bench top.
"Righto," the publican replied. "The tinsel's starting to droop a bit, d'you reckon you and Susie can put them back up again?"
"Yeah, I noticed that tonight," he told her. "Sure, I'll do it."
Chris looked satisfied. "Thanks, Jonesy, I owe you one – and no, not a beer," she added mischievously.
"Wasn't going to say a word," he said back innocently, raising his hands in mock surrender. Chris grinned, and with a glance behind him, swiftly left him to serve the other end of the bar. Evan curiously turned around in time to catch Susie coming over, glass in hand.
"Hey," she greeted simply.
"Hey," he replied with a nod.
"Some crowd, eh?"
He looked around the pub, which seemed to be celebrating Christmas six days early: the drinks flowing, the laughter loud – everyone seemed to be having a good time. "Yeah, looks like it."
"And then I bet people pile in here the day after to watch the cricket."
"Probably, yeah," he nodded, taking a sip of his drink.
Despite the people around them, and plenty of available excuses to interrupt the conversation, neither moved. Yet their silence seemed a stark contrast to the festivities carrying on in the vicinity.
"I wonder if this time of year will ever be quiet," Susie thought aloud, spinning her glass on the bench top with her fingers. He didn't say a word, so she continued. "With the Christmas parties, the kids, the food, the drinks... the endless noise," she added with a shudder at the though.
"Well, I don't know," he replied with a nonchalant shrug, "Mine's probably gonna be pretty quiet."
Her tactlessness suddenly hit her. A vision of Evan and the commander sitting at a Christmas table entered her mind, but she bit back the sad smile that was threatening to show on her lips. Instead, she wasn't sure as to what to say, or if she should say anything at all.
As though he picked up on her train of thoughts, he dismissed it. "Don't give me pity," he said. "It'll be fine."
"Sure," she nodded easily in return, as if she didn't have a worry in the world. Once again, they lapsed into silence.
"You know, I'm a bit jealous," Susie spoke up with a wry smile.
"Yeah? How come?" Evan looked genuinely surprised.
"Your Christmas seems so simple. Father, food, pudding..."
"It's not like how it used to be," he cut in quietly, then paused. "Your Christmas seems so... well, busy," he finished, having struggled for a word.
"Busy," she repeated with a chuckle. "Yeah, you could say that. Family from every corner of the state gathering in the one room – it always causes some friction somewhere."
"I see," he said. Both waited for the other to speak.
"Yeah, to be honest, I'm not looking forward to it as much as I used to," Susie admitted with a weary sigh.
"Join the club."
There was a pause. "Maybe I won't go," they both said in unison, then glanced at each other. Susie cracked a smile.
"Yeah, see, I know this guy around here -" she gestured around the pub, "- and it seems like he'll have a pretty simple Christmas, so because I don't want a big, loud family gathering, I was going to see if he wanted to join me."
"Really."
"Yeah, I don't know what he reckons about that, though," she said hypothetically with another shrug.
"His Christmas probably consists of only his father, which really isn't too great company-wise," Evan played along with the game, not letting his face give anything away. "Nah, I don't think he's looking forward to it."
"Pity, that," Susie shook her head in dismay. "All the more reason for him to stay right here."
"I don't think he's moving anywhere," he said lightly.
She grinned at him, the first proper smile since the night before. Glancing down at her glass, her face turned into a serious one.
"Yeah, well, on one condition only," she warned.
Evan's brow furrowed. "What's that?"
"Just don't go hunting around for more mistletoe, or you've got another thing coming," she told him with a grin. He grinned back.
"Ah well, if there just so happens to be some above, I can't help that, can I?"
"I'll believe it when I see it." Susie raised her glass. "Here's to our Christmas."
He gently clinked his glass with hers. "Yeah, cheers."
ende!