Disclaimer: Andromeda is owned by Tribune, for now
Spoilers: None
Summary: Harper puts up a Christmas tree in April and Beka wants to know why, so he tells her a story.
Okay, a little bit late for Christmas stories but I have a very valid reason for writing it now and not yesterday or nearer to Christmas . Please enjoy!
All was quiet on the Andromeda, well, except for the Christmas music playing at full volume across the ship. Rommie herself wouldn't even have minded that much except that her outer hull was covered with flashing lights and the most important fact, it wasn't anywhere near Christmas by the Earth calendar.
It was actually just after Easter, so why exactly Harper had gone all out on the decorations was beyond her logical comprehension. And the rest of her crews comprehension in fact, as most of them were currently using some very colourful swear words to describe their annoying half-five in the morning wakening.
Harper himself was sitting on the observation deck, gazing at the Christmas tree he had put up. He was almost mesmerised by its flashing lights and sparkly tinsel. The tree itself was from the hydroponics bay but it was safely nestled in a pot of compost and he'd put it back when he was ready.
Beka had managed to pull herself out of bed by this time and was making her way to the observation deck to give Harper a piece of her mind. But when she walked in and saw his expression as he looked at the tree, she wasn't so angry anymore.
"Harper, do you think you could turn the music down just a bit?"
Harper jumped slightly at her entrance but smiled and complied turning the music down low.
"So what's with the Christmas theme? A bit early isn't it?"
Harper smiled, he'd expected this and he was ready to share a story, even if it did reveal a few personal things about his childhood. It was important enough to share.
"No, it's not early at all." He waited. If she wanted to know, she'd ask.
"So since when do you celebrate Christmas on the Andromeda at this time of year, or at all?"
He smiled, a little sadly maybe, as he remembered the reason he had done all this. It was just an impulse after he'd checked the calendar that was sitting near his bunk on the Maru.
"You might want to make yourself comfortable, if you really want to hear the story."
Beka obligingly settled down on a chair and when she looked comfortable he began.
"It happened when I was nine. You see every year we'd have Christmas, Dad'd go and cut down a small tree, if he could find one and he'd bring it back to the camp and we'd put a nice cosy little corner.
We usually did this a week before Christmas so that the tree'd last till the epiphany. That's the day the wise men were supposed to arrive and it was called 'Little Christmas'. (AN: that's the 6th January)
But this year something happened that meant we didn't get a tree. In fact no-one did and we weren't too busy worryin' about trees though cos we'd just lost our homes. There was a fire, a big one and it started one night in the centre of the camp.
We didn't have a water supply very nearby because of the risk of floodin' so there wasn't much of a hope of stoppin' it from spreading. We just grabbed all our stuff and ran. We moved to the sewers because there wasn't anywhere else to go, the Dragans weren't about to go and build us a new camp, not that they built the first.
So anyway we lost our homes and our daily food supply because the Dragans don't give food out in the sewers and they were more likely to take us as slaves than to just let us go back to being regular workers. It was cheaper.
Anyway for the next couple of months we were a bit preoccupied with trying to stay alive so Christmas, the small celebration we usually have, was kind of forgotten. It was over four months until we managed to get a place in a different camp and my dad got work in some factory working for the Dragans.
We'd been there a week when he came home with the tree. It was the end of April and he walked in with a tree! He'd also managed to scrounge some candles off of a guy. I found out later he'd sold the only proper jacket he'd owned to buy that small pack of candles.
Over the years we'd collected bits and pieces for the tree. Some tinsely stuff, a plastic robin, some colourful bobbles and some well placed shiny paper to reflect the light from the candles. So we decorated it. We always did it together, it was a real family thing.
And then, last of all, we'd put the angel on top of the tree. It was a really old angel, it was pink and it wouldn't sit straight, it had golden hair and a glittery crown and wings made of cardboard and it looked kind of drunk, but I loved it anyway.
I sat at the tree all that night, it looked so magical and sometimes it made me forget the horror all around me, if only just for a little while. And it reminded me about family and how important it really was.
So here we were, it was nearly summer and we had a Christmas tree in our dilapidated house, if you could even call it a house. And next morning, when I woke up, there was a small present under it, like there always was.
I used to feel guilty because I never had something for my parents but they used to tell me that I was a present enough and that their gift was just a small token of their love for me."
Harper paused briefly in his talking, looking at Beka from the first time since he'd began. He pulled a chain from around his neck and handed it to Beka. Dangling from it was a small whistle.
Before she could say anything he continued talking.
"Yep, that's the present. A whistle. I thought it was the best thing I'd ever gotten and it was. I thought I'd lost it because I hadn't been able to find it since we joined the Andromeda.
But when I was looking at my calendar yesterday, I remembered where I'd left it and that reminded me of why I'd gotten it and what it meant. That was truly the best Christmas ever, specially cos when I woke in the morning, Earth's very erratic temperature range meant it was snowing. Like it was just for us.
So that's why I made today Christmas, because the year I was nine today was. Sorry if I woke you, I was just trying to get into the spirit. Oh and I've got breakfast ready in the mess, pancakes and syrup and stuff. Hopefully it'll calm Dylan, Trance and Tyr down a little."
Beka smiled and stood up. She handed Harper back his whistle and he paused for a minute, just looking at it admiring it. She didn't ask him to play it, some things are just more personal to him than most.
She turned to leave and go get some breakfast and Harper quietly hung his whistle on the tree, it seemed completely at home in the mixture of decorations already on there.
He smiled for the billionth time that day, but this smile was sadder than most. Full of memories, pain, hurt and loss. Things Harper knew well.
Then he mentally pushed it away and turned following Beka out the door, smiling and joking about maybe making the music play only in Tyr's quarters tomorrow and pretending not to know anything about it.
Because you have to go on. There can be so much hurt and pain in the universe and yet you can't just give up. Remember the good things and the sad things. It's the sad things that remind you why the good things are so good.
The End
Okay, so if I had a standard maybe this wouldn't be up to it, but I just needed to prove I still remembered how to write fic. And that angel in the story is sitting on top of our tree. The sequel to Ever After should be following shortly. If you have time, please review.