tigerkid14: Claudia and Leena exchange Christmas presents during Claudia's first Christmas with the Warehouse? *smiles hopefully*
Set during 'Secret Santa' cause something in my mind is telling me that that is correct and I don't know why.
-oOo-
It was easily the best Christmas Claudia could remember.
The food had been stupidly good. The turkey was cooked perfectly. The potatoes were the mashed-but-with-some-chunks-left kind that she likes. And the pies, oh sweet baby Tesla the pies.
The decorations were amazing. There was clearly no need to dig into the Aisle Noel when it came to making the B&B look festive. Granted, the sheer design of the building did at least a quarter of the work and the snow brought another quarter. But, still, it all looked epicly legit.
The company... Well, she actually cared about them, at least a little. Okay, she cared about them a lot. How could she not? They had become her family.
Her rather dysfunctional family that had split up quickly after finishing dinner and opening presents.
Artie and his dad were in the sitting room grumbling about the invention of paper or something. Pete and Josh (the traitor) had gone to watch a movie Pete's mom had sent him. Myka was off reading...somewhere.
Leaving Claudia to hover in the shadowed entrance of the kitchen and watch as Leena finished cleaning up from dinner.
"Are you going to stand there or are you going to help?"
Claudia raised an eyebrow but stepped fully into the kitchen. She should have figured that Leena had known she was there. Stupid aura powers.
"They aren't exactly aura powers."
"Do you read minds too?"
Cause that would be a slightly disturbing development. Slightly disturbing, exceedingly humiliating.
"You said it out loud."
Oh. That's better.
Still slightly problematic, seeing how she hadn't realized she had spoken aloud, but still, not Leena-can-read-your-mind-and-see-Claudia's-epicly-big-crush-on-her problematic.
And she made sure that thought stayed in her head.
"What do you need help with?" Good idea, turn away from dangerous topics.
"Can you load the dishwasher?"
She hates doing the dishes.
"Course I can."
Leena smiled. That adorable, stupid little smile she has when she knows she just got her way.
Claudia crossed the kitchen. She stuck her hands in her pockets as she moved. The wrapping paper was smooth under the fingers on her left hand.
She had to do it soon, or she would lose the nerve and the gift would end up in the bottom of her drawer.
Still, there were dishes that had to be done.
They worked in silence. Comfortable for Leena maybe, but Claudia felt just shy of breaking down. Why was it so hard to just hand it over? It really wasn't much.
She closed her eyes and made a note to put 'stop lying to self' on top of her new year's resolution list, cause that gift meant so much.
So fucking much.
"I should go make sure everyone's okay," Leena said as she put the final container of leftover turkey away.
"Wait!"
The word was out of Claudia's mouth before she had time to think. She quickly rinsed her hands off and dried them on her jeans. She turned to see Leena standing just a few feet from her with that smile that made Claudia's stomach feel funky.
That fraking smile.
Drawing in a deep breath, she took the plunge.
She reached into her pocket and pulled the gift out. She focused on the festive animals on the paper as the words tumbled from her lips.
"I made this for you. I got you the, uh, paint set cause I didn't know if I would finish this in time and I didn't wanna put this under the tree, cause then everyone would know I got you two gifts and Pete would never let th.."
Soft hands wrapped around hers, cutting her words off. She looked up and was surprised to see Leena so close.
"Thank you," Leena said. She gently took the gift from Claudia's grasp and neatly opened it.
Claudia watched in silence. She didn't even groan about that not being the proper way to open presents - everyone knows you are supposed to just tear the paper - instead she stood with her heart in her throat and any ability to talk hiding in her stomach.
Leena's smile grew from that fraking-stomach-funkifiing one to that-really-big-one-Claudia-had-stood-a-chance-against.
"I love it," Leena said as she wrapped the bracelet around her wrist and clasped it. The silver chain was cool and smooth against her skin. Every few links had a small metal flower embedded in the link.
"You do?" Claudia asked. Her voice, cowardly thing it was, was soft and trembled slightly.
"I do." Leena smiled at her. "You made this?"
Claudia nodded.
"You did a great job. It's beautiful."
Claudia blushed and looked down.
Her heart froze when lips brushed against her cheek.
"Thank you," Leena murmured.
Claudia's head shot up, but Leena had already moved away, out of her line of sight. Her head snapped to the side just in time to see Leena turn down the hall.
Her hand rose to cover the still burning skin on her cheek.
Did that really just happen? She wasn't dreaming? There was no artifact that caused that?
She pinched her arm, then pinched harder. Nope, not a dream.
Not an artifact either. The kitchen smelt of Christmas, not fudge.
So, Leena had kissed her.
She didn't even care that it had just been on the cheek.
Leena liked the bracelet and had kissed her.
Claudia grinned and laughed.
Leena had kissed her.
She quickly finished the dishes and retreated to her room. She was going to get her guitar and play victory songs until someone told her to stop.
She didn't get a chance to, however. She was distracted by something on the foot of her bed. Something very presenty-looking.
There was no card, just her name written on the patterned paper. She picked it up - it wasn't heavy, but felt sturdy - and tore the paper off.
A smile crossed her face.
It was her. A painting of her.
She ran her fingertips along the painted smile, then up the outline of her profile. Her painted eye was closed and a pen was stuck behind her ear. The painting cut off just below her shoulder, but she could make out her favorite jacket.
The background was a storm of black and white with random brushes of pale pink.
A sense of bliss encompassed the entire painting.
"I painted it for you," a soft voice said from behind her. Tears welled up in her eyes and a lump grew in her throat. "I got you the toolset because I didn't know if I was going to finish it in time."
She slowly put the painting down and turned back to her door. Leena was hovering in the doorway.
"I didn't put it under the tree because then everyone would know I got you two gifts and we..."
She cut off when Claudia crossed the room and threw her arms around her.
"Thank you," she murmured.
"Do you like it?" Leena's voice sounded like hers had just minutes ago in the kitchen.
Claudia pulled back to see worry creeping onto Leena's features.
"It's beautiful."
"It's you."
"I noticed."
Leena smiled her large smile again and laughed lightly. "All of it. The background is your aura."
She moved her hand through the air around Claudia's head.
"Focus and motivation and intelligence and pure intentions." Her fingers swirled in a spot just above Claudia's ear. "And still some lingering grief."
Claudia stared at her. "You see all that?"
"And more."
For the second time, Claudia took the plunge. She stepped forward and lightly brushed her lips across Leena's.
She pulled back and went to step into her room, but the hand on her arm stopped her. She stared at the floor, too scared of what she might find if she looked up.
A finger hooked under her chin and lifted her head for her. Leena still had that stupid smile, only it was worse now. Claudia was absolutely lost.
"That was part of the more I see."
Claudia's further questions vanished when Leena pressed their lips together again.