"Ever felt the tender sway of the wind caressing your face, or the sweet, fresh smell of winter invigorate your senses, whilst flocks of snow swirl down gracefully, covering the roads in a soft smooth layer of white? Neither have I."
"But you've known hardship." Yes, Kaidan had known that, and so did she know it all too well, "We've known hardship."
"Isn't this time of year supposed to be special? Shouldn't we make up for our mistakes, good will to all the people and all that?" Kaidan noticed his own nose, it didn't feel the tender sway of the wind, it felt cold, just like the rest of his face, a harsh unlikeable cold.
"That's what dad used to say: 'When all the year is through, make good your sins, you.' Or something like that."
"He wasn't a very good poet then."
She snickered a little, "No, he was just as good as me. Awful." She always remembered him as the good man that he was, but that line: 'make good your sins', it made her think of his flaws. He was her idol, that's how any person should be, but she hadn't completely forgotten his temper. He could strike you hard, if you weren't about to step back in line, he'd make sure to get you back one way or another. She wrote it off as frustration, him being out of himself for always getting stomped on for his last cursed name, maybe it wasn't because of that, but she'd just pretend it was.
"Tell me something Ash, have you ever celebrated Christmas like in the vids?" He never had, never had the chance either.
"Yeah, we used to celebrate it. Nothing big though, no tree or anything."
"What was it like? Even close to anything in those vids?"
"Not really. Delicious food and a little present on the table? yeah. But it just felt like any other family dinner."
"I wish we had a special day, where everything would feel different. Perfect."
"Yeah, well life isn't perfect, it's rough. Sweet, but rough."
"Just one day, we could do that. One day without worries." He observed his surroundings closely, houses from centuries ago, the snow in the street had almost entirely melted away, but in the corners and curbs still lay some small heaps of snow. They walked on through the ancient street, trying their at most best to enjoy it.
"Why don't we try right now? Hmm, Now what are we going to need for a perfect day?"
"Booze." He looked at her with a serious face, but couldn't hold it and burst out in a short laugh, his eyes twinkling a little. "Seriously, I don't know, a santa hat?"
"Let's head to that old market then, I'm sure we'll find something there."
They walked around the market stalls for an hour or so both shopping around, trying to find something surprising and droll. Snow had started to whirl down from the sky again when Ashley and Kaidan were heading back to the Normandy.
Kaidan was still not in a good mood and thus Ashley decided a little wintery poetry would cheer him up.
"Make Thou my spirit pure and clear
As are the frosty skies,
Or this first snowdrop of the year
That in my bosom lies."
Ashley looked at Kaidan he still looked a little dim, "Still not feeling the Christmas spirit? Would it help if recited it as a Christmas jingle?"
"Yeah actually, that would help."
She laughed "Get lost."
He shivered a little "Is it just me or is it cold out here? Maybe we should get some hot-cocoa when we get ba-" he didn't get to finish the sentence, a flash, a bang and angsty screams interrupted him.
"God! What the hell was that!" Ashley looked around, her eyes flashed from one side of the street to the other. Nothing.
Kaidan looked up into the sky when he noticed something; "There! Look, smoke, this could be bad."
They ran towards the ever-forming cloud of smoke, passing by shocked bystanders, seemingly frozen of fright, worked their way through another small market square filled with people and stalls, where the cheerful Christmas jingle playing in the background had turned into an eerie, foreboding sound. A car flew down into the cloud of smoke, fromth equick glimpse she caught, it looked like police to Ashley. They were nearly there, just one corner away, Kaidan upped the pace, running as fast as he could, he nearly slipped as he was passing the corner. People seemed to look at them in an odd manner, when they came to an abrupt stop where a big group of people had gathered, right at the source of the smoke clouds. Kaidan and Ashley made there way through the crowd pushing people aside, towards the orangy light that people had gathered around. Kaidan was the first to see the source of panic.
Ashley tried to look over the shoulders of others, but she couldn't see what it was. "What is it? Kaidan! What is it?"
He looked back at her, "Well…uhh…a Christmas tree. On fire."
"And so it turned out the lights were short-circuited and the that caused the tree to light up."
"God, I was scared. Running like all hell had broken loose." Ashley, was sipping a glass of white wine, as was most of the crew. The Normandy had been decorated by Shepard of all people, he had even gotten a Christmas tree in to ship somehow. Apparently the Skipper had wanted a special day too.
"Have to say, I'm starting to feel the mood." Kaidan said it to Ash, who was sitting next to him, who looked like she was browsing through the menu.
She finally focused her eyes at the turkey "Any minute now you'll start dancing." It was settled, the rest of the turkey was to be hers.
"Please no! I can't dance! And I'll have some of that turkey too if you don't mind."
"Well, you can wiggle." She cut a small piece off of the turkey and held it in front of his nose, "Bite." He was going in for the bite, but set his teeth into thin air, as Ashley quickly moved the turkey away. "Missed." She wasn't finished with saying the word or he had snatched it out of her hands. "Hey! Manners, manners!"
"Sorry. Thanks Miss Ashley." He caught a glimpse of Doctor Chakwas in the far corner of his eye, "To be honest, I'm a little worried about her."
Ashley looked in her direction and saw her stumbling around screaming: "I LOOVE CHRISTMAS!" she burst out laughing and answered him in a giggly voice: "I wouldn't worry about her, I'd be more concerned about Joker. I mean, this is the third time he's trying to dry hump the tree."
Kaidan sniggered, "You should see him in a pineforest. So uh, is it time for presents yet?"
Ashley suddenly ran away from the table "be right back!". It gave Kaidan a little time alone. he noticed he actually felt happy, like a little boy. He was genuinely excited over getting a present, which made him remember him being excited as a kid, on the few occasions everything seemed to be great. A perfect memory.
As he was sitting, lost in his haze of thoughts, he thought someone called him. "KAIDAN!"
"Huh? Oh it's you Ash, sorry, was daydreaming."
"Great, I'm away for a minute and sir is daydreaming. Huh, look at this, behind my back." She put a Santa hat on the table.
"You got me the Santa hat?"
"Lift it up." Her eyes were twinkling, her lips curled up into a smile.
He grabbed the hat at its fluffy white tail and lifted it up to reveal a bottle of brandy. Kaidan couldn't help but laugh at the present, "A Santa hat and booze. I see what you did there. Well that should be enough for a Merry Christmas, don't you think?"
"Yeah, it better! Now… where's my present?"
"Ehm, yeah, about that..I, uhh, might have dropped it when we were running towards the tree on fire."
"You did what? Me and my boomstick don't like the sound of that." She looked a little angry, but Kaidan couldn't help but think that it was a façade. Suddenly a little smile started playing around her lips and she continued: "Although, I know. You," She pointed at Kaidan, "dancing right now."
"Well I-fair enough."
"Shirtless."
"Don't push your luck Chief."
She laughed out loud, "C'mon LT, I wouldn't mind doing some dance-steps myself." She grabbed his hand and led him away from the table to an empty spot, "Here will do, don't you think?"
"I don't know Ash, I had hoped to knock someone's wine out of his hands."
Grinning at the remark she then, quite affectionately, spoke: "Merry Christmas."
Author's note: The poem used, is made by Alfred Tennyson and is called "St. Agnes' Eve". This one-shot was made a little rushed (since I wanted to get it done before Christmas) and I got a little unspired at the half-way point, but I hope it hasn't suffered too much from that. I will resume work on my main fiction now (and by now, I mean after Christmas). Hope you enjoyed the read and I wish you a Merry Christmas!