A Lot Like Christmas
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Ship: Jack/Angela
Spoilers: None. Set during Christmas Hiatus, season 2
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The problem with Christmas is that it's too temporary.

Every year it comes, swooping in like some big celebrity, expecting everyone to go out of their way to satisfy it's every whim. And every year it goes, sneaking out the back door, without even a whisper of apology. And where does that leave you?

You think about that feeling you'll have when it's over. After the dust settles, and everything seems to have lost it's shine; it's just like when you wake up and can't remember what you were dreaming about, but you know it was something good. And because you're all too aware of the fleeting nature of the holiday you spend most of the season thinking about what comes next, instead of what's happening now.

Sometimes you imagine riding on the coattails of Christmas. You think what it might be like if Christmas were permanent, and you wonder how far up on Santa's 'nice' list you'd have to be before that would ever happen to you. But despite it all, you really kind of love Christmas, even if it's never all that you hope for.

It's pretty, you'll give it that much. Everything is dressed up in sparkles and candy canes. Everyone sings along to sugary sweet seasonal pop songs, with smiles planted firmly in place. It hides things well, you admit, and sometimes you even let yourself forget what it's hiding, and that's the magic of Christmas.

You remember when you were younger, back when you believed that Christmas really changed things - that a blanket of white, and a jolly fat man would make a difference in your life. Christmas never seemed short-lived back then. Now, when you think of Christmas, you think of different things, like mistletoe and eggnog, but in the back of your mind you still hope that Christmas might work a little miracle for you. You feel silly, but you still hope, and that's the magic of Christmas.

She comes into the room with the soft jangle of bells and you smile because everything about her is soft and you never really knew what that was like before you met her. She stands closer than she needs to, and you can't help but reach up to adjust the lopsided Santa hat she's donned. She's talking about shopping and decorations, and it occurs to you that she's probably never experienced the post Christmas backlash because, in her eyes, there is always a little magic everywhere.

You point out that it may just be one giant hoax, with the sole purpose of benefiting the economic empire, and when she laughs, you laugh too, because when you're together things like that just don't matter anymore. You realize that you're a lot softer than you used to be, and that's not the magic of Christmas, that's the magic of her. And it occurs to you that she feels a lot like Christmas should feel.

And you think to yourself, maybe, this time, Christmas will last all year.