To start off my Random storys, what do people call them? Whatever, with the snow not settling outside my window but the weather being cold enough to do so this fine December: here's a christmas tale...

Christmas Shoes:

Richard Grayson was not having a good day. In fact, the day was getting worse and worse as it went on. Today was December 24th and Christmas was a few short hours away. Usually he didn't mind Christmas, the singing, the holiday cheer, family coming to visit. But today wasn't one of his greater days, his wife, Kori, was pissed at him. He could see why, Rachel has been sick for a while, Garfield wanted everyone to come over and spend Christmas together at his place so she didn't have to move too far.

That's now why Kori's mad at him though, Richard stayed late at the office clearing up another case so he could take his well deserved vacation. She wanted him to come home early and spend time with her and their daughter Lilly. Lately he's been overworking himself, it kinda kept his temper in line when he did end up showing up at home, usually at late hours in the night.

His short messy black hair was sticking to his face, something he hasn't gotten used to after years of using hair jell. He had on a white jacket and black pants covering him. His eyes were covered with black sunglasses and stood in line waiting for people to stop arguing with the shops workers. He was currently in line at the local Walmart preparing for a long and loud conversation with Kori when he got to Garfields place later that evening. His mind was setting up for another fight, planning out every possible outcome as he had an Ipod his daughter had been begging for and a necklace Kori would love. Of course, neither of them were cheap, it wouldn't be a family if they were.

His phone went off and he sighed, slipping it out to see who was calling him. Victor. "Sup?" He asked pressing the device to his ear, in the background he could hear hushed talking. Something seemed to be upsetting the others.

"Leo is missing." Victor spoke, his voice quietly as if not to upset anyone. Victor was a old friend, from bach when they were still part of the hero gang that protected the streets of Jump City. He used to only go by Cyborg, not letting anyone know his real name, until he and Bee started going out. Now he designed and build cars, buildings, and more.

"What?" Richard almost dropped his phone in shock. Leo was Rachel's and Garfield's only son, as far as he knew, Rachel was willing to do anything for her son, even go back into her retired life of a superhero. She took up the career of a Novelist after the team was put into 'rest.' If she wasn't writing, she was with her son, Leo at school, or with her husband Garfield doing small things like walking or sitting on the couch watching TV with her.

"Ray is on the verge of breaking down and Gar is doing all he can to calm her, could you look for him before heading over?" Victor said quickly, he was defiantly trying not to upset anyone. His old friend Garfield had started working for a Gaming design company, something he was into and stuck with him, he now had a few of his own thought out video games on the market. Most of the time outside of work he was with Rachel and Leo, he didn't like being away from her, the protective animal instinct was partly responsible for that.

"Victor?" Bee, his girlfriend called from another room. Bee was a model, just like Kori was. They worked together and were often shopping or hanging out, it was something Kori did to occupy her time without Richard around. Their daughter was often with them, loving the chance to be around her mom and friend.

"Gota run, find Leo." The call ended leaving the man listening too the dial tone. By that time he it was his turn to pay. He swiped his card and signed off on it, not paying any mind to how much it cost him. It was better not to look after a while. He exited the store and went to find his car.

Richard groaned as he drove slowly down the streets of Jump City, how on earth was he supposed to find a boy in this weather. normally a simple task like this was easy, but the snow was providing an extra challenge. In the seat next to him lay the bag with rapt gifts to his family. The lady working at Walmart kindly offered to wrap them after he paid. He agreed, trying to kill some time hoping that Leo would make his way home and stop worrying his mother. Today just wasn't his day.

A boy was running down the streets clutching a jar in his arms and sprinted into the nearest shoe shop. He pulled over and followed after him, Kari was talking about getting new convers, now would e better than never. He walked into the shop that looked torn apart after all their sales earlier this week. "Hay Richard!" The clerk called to me without looking up from her magazine. "Kori said you might be stopping by."

"Did she?" He mused walking over to the girl. She didn't look bad, but compared to Kori, he didn't take interest in many girls. The girl had dirty blond hair in pig tales as well as dark brown eyes. She had on the shop uniform, a white T-shrt with some lame shoe store name on it he didn't bother to look at, and black dress pants. The boy got to her first, his he was panting and looked like he's been running around all day.

The boy had a black hat on covering his hair and a worn jacket, you could tell it's been used for many things. His pants were ripped, they looked like new pants. He had black gloves over his hands and held a box in his hands, clutching them as if they were life. He had mud covering him from head to toe but didn't seem to mind. The girl looked at him, an amused twinkle in her eye as he bent over to catch his breath. "E-Exscuse me, ma'am." He panted pushing the box up to the counter he could barely look over. "Could I get these? Please?" He shoved his hand into his pocket pulling out all the money in his pockets and spilling them onto the counter. The woman rang up the shoes.

"What pretty dance shoes, who are they for?" She asked looking over the black dancing shoes with purple and green flowers spreading along the tong and sides. Richard watched the boy, expecting it would be for his sister or something.

"My mom, she loves dancing and I wanted to get something special for her this Christmas." He seemed to catch his breath. "She's been sick for quite some time and if this is our last Christmas together... I want her to smile if she leaves us." Richard didn't know how anyone should respond to that. The clerk quietly counted the coins and the boys anticipation it felt like years before she looked up at him. The boy spoke so confidently even when knowing his mother was ill to the point where she could die. Richard grew up as an orphan so he never knew what it was like to have a mother, he had Bruce for most of his life.

"I'm sorry, you're five dollars short." She spoke softly. Those words broke the boy, he shoved his hands back into his pocket hoping he could find another dollar or coin with no avail. He looked like a lost puppy hoping someone would pick him up and bring him home or return him back to his family.

"I don't have any more money..." His voice broke and tears were spilling out now. "How will I get her to smile and dance again?" Richards hand was reaching to his pocket without thinking, he took out his wallet and pulled out a five, carefully setting it down on the boy's pile. The clerk looked at him and the man nodded to her. She closed the box and pulled out some wrapping paper.

"Well, that should do it." She spoke picking up the money and putting it into the register.

I knelt down and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Go bring them to her." Richard spoke when he looked up at him. His teary green eyes widened. "When she's done wrapping them, I'll take you home."

"Thank you," he whipped his tears away with a dirty sleeve smearing some mud onto his face. A smile broke out onto his lips when the woman handed him the box. Richard took him out to the car and helped him into the back.

"Where do you live?" Richard already knew the answer when he asked it, the boy took of his hat revealing the mess of green hair that rested under it. He had found the boy he was supposed to look for.

"Out near the tower." The car started, sending the warm air from the headers out on the two. Neither spoke, the boy had found a pen sitting on the floor of the car and started scribbling on the wrapping. He didn't notice when Richard pulled into his friends driveway until the car stopped. He glanced up seeing the lights his father and him had put up weeks earlier. He was out of the car as Richard was closing the door. Following the boy into the house. He closed the door before seeing the seen in front of him.

Rachel held the boy in her arms as she sat weekly on the couch, the box was resting on the other side, forgotten about for now. Kori stood with Bee and Victor, they had been talking before the boy ran into the house. Garfield, was sitting on the couch, supporting Rachel. His arms were wrapped around the two, his green eyes looked up at Richard saying the words he didn't need to hear.

"Look at you, you're covered in mud." Rachel separated from the boy and he turned to get the box.

"I wanted to get you something." Leo mumbled sheepishly handing her the box. She took her time to read over the words he wrote for her, Gar chuckled softly at them and watched as his wife carefully opened the box. Her breath hitched as she saw its contents, tears were stinging her eyes.

"Leo this is..." She couldn't think of anything to say. She whipped the tears off of her face, "thank you." The words weren't just directed to her son, but to the man standing in the doorway. Outside the windows, snow was glowing with the lights from the lit yard as the day drew towards it's end.

I want her to look beautiful
If mama meets Jesus tonight

Tis the season, and that means I'm in the mood to write sappy family things like that ^ Once upon a time before this fanfiction account existed, I made a promise to my younger sister to write her a Christmas story: still working on it.

Anywho, Christmas Shoes is one of my all time favorite Christmas songs even if I don't really like religious things. (Mythology is where my heart lies.) And after a few years (half my life) of knowing about the movie but never sitting down and watching it, I finally did today, well yesterday, I wrote this on 12-3-12 but my internet down so whenever this gets posted. But watching that movie made me want to break down and cry several times, it was a movie deserving the first little random writing.

Like it? Hate it? Tell me your thoughts, I love hearing from my readers.

~Rain Writer (best aliases in my head =P)