Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Author's Note: This is my first time writing this couple so…Merry Christmas, or Happy Hanukah or whatever it is that you celebrate at this time of year. I got help with the ideas from Meloda26 and my sister.
Reasons to Celebrate Christmas
Ziggy picked up the next box that from the van, this one had lights in it. He was excited that they were going to be able to have Christmas. Venjix was defeated and all was being rebuilt.
He opened the door to the school with one hand and maneuvered his way into the building. He smiled at the little boy who ran past him and into one of the rooms. He began whistling an old Christmas song that he remembered hearing.
Ziggy made it to the room that he had been collecting the Christmas supplies and set it on the table with the other couple of boxes. He just needed to get a few more and then he'd have everything in. Then it would be time to decorate.
Turning to go back out to the truck he jumped as he realized he was not alone.
"You scared me."
Dr. K. ignored his comment and instead got right to the point, "What is all of this? I don't remember us needed a shipment." Then she held up the piece of paper that Ziggy had made earlier, "And this?"
He smiled, "Come on, even you had to have celebrated Christmas right?" She didn't move but continued staring at him, "Corinth is having Christmas. And it's a huge celebration."
"Why is our school listed on this flyer?"
"That's for the Christmas program."
"Christmas program? What Christmas program?"
Ziggy walked over to her slowly, "The kids have been learning a few songs for it. It'll be something for their families to enjoy."
"At the celebration?"
"Yes. I talked to Natalie, you know the director, and she said it was a good idea."
"You didn't talk to me about that."
"It was a surprise."
"I don't see the point."
"Come on K; think about it, celebrating this time of year. We're free and life is good. Why not show it with having kids singing? It'll be fun."
"I meant I didn't see the point in the surprise."
"I just…it was a surprise so you could see how well the kids have done."
After a sigh from her he watched as her expression softened, "Fine. I just think this should have had more planning to it."
"Just wait. You'll love it!"
"What is in those boxes?"
"Decorations!"
K looked around the room already seeing the decorations that Ziggy and the kids had put up a few weeks prior. "What are those things that you have put up before?"
"I know we already have decorations, but this room doesn't have lights. And the rest of the boxes are for something that the kids suggested. So we're going to do that today."
She looked at him for a few more seconds before turning and walking out of the room.
Ziggy couldn't help but grin. Even though he had to admit that when he was a ranger it was hard to be on the receiving end of her frustration for varying things, now when something frustrated her and they 'discussed' it, it was different. Different because the discussions usually were more her expressing how she felt and him giving one reason or another as to why it made sense. But in the end she allowed him to be more a partner then just someone under her.
And they were partners. She took care of the kids intellectually, they took classes from her. A lot had to do from the bio field, but she taught other things as well. And Ziggy taught them how to cook, do shadow puppets, and many other things.
When he had heard that Corinth was celebrating Christmas he was ecstatic at the idea that he could do something to bring to the Christmas celebrations. His first thought was the kids. Everyone would love seeing their kids singing at Christmas time, and since this was right after the defeat of Venjix, that would make it all the better.
He hadn't wanted to tell K at first because he was worried that she would shoot down the idea. And though he hadn't told her and he was still unsure of her reaction he still found himself talking with Natalie. In that one conversation they had agreed that it would be a good idea for the kids to participate in the program. So she added them to the flyer.
K never really went out all that much and she was less likely to have paid much attention to the specifics of the event so he planned on having at least the rest of the day before she would ask. He was going to decorate with the help of some of the kids that afternoon. They were going to work on that instead of have class. But since it was close to Christmas, he figured it would work.
Ziggy glanced up at the clock and then hurried out to get the rest of the boxes. As soon as he got them in he rushed to his class. All the kids were talking and laughing. The word of the Christmas celebration had been out for a while and the kids knew it was drawing near.
"Okay class, how many more days til Christmas?"
They all looked at Ziggy and yelled "Three!"
"That's right. I have a surprise for you. Follow me."
The kids all got up and followed a quickly moving Ziggy through the hall and down to the room where the decorations were in. He gestured to the boxes and John, one of the little boys, ran up and opened the box that held glitter and scissors and such.
He looked up at Ziggy who nodded, "That is for making snowflakes."
Tina gasped, "You got stuff for snowflakes?"
"I told you I would."
Sarah grabbed his hand, "Can I make one for my sister?"
He nodded, "You can make one for everyone in your family!"
Sarah hugged his waist, "Thank you Ziggy!"
He smiled as all the kids started pulling the supplies out of the box and started working on their own. The former Green Ranger moved among the kids and helped them with cutting or coloring. As they continued onward Ziggy opened the box of lights and started stringing them around the room that didn't have any.
Standing back he surveyed his work before he looked back at the kids. All of them had huge grins on their faces. Before he could move any further he felt someone else tug on his hand. Looking down he saw the youngest one in the class Tamara who was crying. Kneeling down so he was closer to her level he asked, "What's wrong?"
Through tears she said, "I can't make one for my Daddy."
"Why not?"
"Be…be….because." She wailed.
This time a few kids stopped and turned. Ziggy gestured back to the table, "Why not Tamara?"
"He…he…he's not here."
Ziggy paused and then realized what she meant, "Tamara, I think your Daddy would still want you to make one for him."
"But…he…can't…."
"How about this," he spoke louder for all of the kids to hear, "we'll make ones for our families, which includes friends, and then we'll make them for everyone we know that we can't get it to and put them up for them."
Tamara shook her head, "He won't see it."
"He will. He'll know you made it and he'll love it."
The little girl gulped in a bunch of air, "Re-Really?"
"Yes."
Tamara threw her arms around Ziggy and gave him a kiss on the cheek before taking his hand and leading him over to the table. The rest of the afternoon was spent in making snowflakes and then putting up the ones that wouldn't be going home. During the time that they put up the snowflakes they practiced their songs that they were going to be singing that night at the program.
While the kids were taping up the last snowflakes on the front windows Dr. K came up to him, "The parents and guardians will be coming shortly. Are you finished?"
Ziggy smiled at her, "Did you want to make a snowflake?"
She frowned and he waited for her response. Before she could say anything Tony, one of the little boys who was very smart himself had noticed her and quickly ran to her, "Dr. K, come and look at my snowflakes, they are just perfect."
Ziggy watched as Tony waited and then led Dr. K over to one of the windows where he began explaining how everything was a certain way and how he had measured it just so.
Slowly the parents and guardians arrived to pick up their kids; after another about twenty minutes more and more were getting picked up until all of them were gone and it was just Ziggy and K who were left there.
Ziggy moved forward and put his arm around her, "See that was the perfect finale for the last day before Christmas."
"I will admit that it was a good day. And the kids did well on their test."
"I thought you were going to wait for that test!"
"I remembered what you said and I didn't think it was fair for them to be worried about it over their break."
He grinned, "A Christmas present."
"If that's what you want to call it."
After she started walking off he locked the door and then caught up to her, "I will, and I think you would agree. It's okay to do so."
"Fine."
"Good. Are you going to come to the celebration tonight?"
"I can monitor everything from here just fine."
"Yes, but the kids will want to see you and Gem and Gemma are both going to be there, along with the rest of the team."
He watched as he saw her resolve start to break, "I'll think about it."
"You don't have to long."
"I'll think about it."
As she turned into her lab he saw a small smile which caused him to grin even more.
Ziggy had wrapped all the rest of the presents that he had just gotten and left them in a pile on his desk. Getting up he stretched and then looked up at the clock. It was then that he realized that he needed to leave twenty minutes ago. Jumping out the door he ran to Dr. K's lab and opened the door. She was sitting at her desk reading a book and looked up as he rushed in.
"K, we have to leave."
"I didn't say I was coming."
"Come on. We need to go."
He moved over and grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door, "Ziggy, I can walk by myself. I do not need your help. Besides we'll be just fine."
"We should have left twenty minutes ago!"
"Because of your clock?"
"Yes."
"You set it early to make sure you left on time."
"Oh. Right."
"Let's go."
Ziggy quickly followed suit as Dr. K had began walking towards where the program was going to be at. "The kids will be really happy to see you there."
"They'll be with their parents."
"Not the orphans, and besides I don't think that'll stop the other kids from being happy that you are going to be there."
She looked up at him and he smiled at her softened expression. She looked ahead, "How many songs are the kids singing?"
"Just a few. Rudolph, Frosty, Marshmallow World and then everyone joins in for Jingle Bells."
"And you're sure people will remember that song?"
"Of course. I don't see why not."
K just nodded and the two walked in silence the rest of the way. Once there they went to the spot that Ziggy had described to the kids on where to meet. It didn't take long for all of them to find them. And Ziggy wasn't surprised when he saw how excited the children were that K was there with them, though he could see that she was.
Ziggy got all the kids in a group like they planned and then the program started. The kids sang those songs he had told Dr. K about. Colonel Truman spoke along with a couple of other people. At the closing the tree lights turned on and everyone stood quiet for a few minutes admiring it. Then Ziggy started the kids singing Jingle Bells and slowly others who were around the tree joined it.
Once they were down with the program the kids bid Ziggy and K good bye as their parents came to get them. Over the next hour people slowly began to disappear. Ziggy watched as the last kid was picked up and then turned to K who had a small smile on her face.
"Are you ready to go?"
Dr. K looked up at Ziggy and slowly nodded. The two of them made their way back through the city. As they walked Ziggy looked over at his companion, "So are you happy that you came along."
"It was surprisingly nice to be there." She paused when they got to their building, "It was a good idea. I had no knowledge of that."
"Christmas?"
"Yes."
"They didn't even celebrate Christmas?"
"I had more important things to do."
Ziggy placed his hand on her shoulder, "Well there is still another day before Christmas Eve. Tomorrow is the 23rd. We can still do some more prep because we're all going to get together for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day."
"We?"
"Scott, Summer, Dillon, Flynn, Gemma, Gem…we."
"Oh. Sounds, good."
He smiled at her, "You'll love it. It'll be great."
As he said that something white landed in K's hair. Slowly he touched it and felt it melt in his hand. He smiled and looked up in time for a few flurries to land on his face. He heard a gasp and looked at K, "It's snowing."
"The weather is not being controlled anymore. It's whatever it will be."
She frowned, "It's unpredictable."
"But a joy."
He watched as she thought that over and then looked back at the sky. This time when she looked up there he saw a spark of joy in her eyes, of life that would come through every now and again. They stood there in the gently falling snow just enjoying the feel of actual snow.
Ziggy looked back at K who was still looking up at the sky. He noticed something on her cheek so he brushed it off. At that contact it seemed to bring the woman's focus back to him. Before he even realized what he himself was doing his lips lightly touched hers. She didn't respond for the first couple of seconds but then he almost sighed in relief when he realized that she wasn't rejecting him.
After a few minutes they pulled away and looked at each other, but unsure of what to say. Ziggy almost responded about K's lack of a comment but then thought better of it. And in that silence the two quietly finished their walk back. At the point where they were going to separate Ziggy smiled at K, "Merry Christmas."
She frowned and he knew that she was about to mention that it wasn't Christmas yet so he was quite surprised when she smiled back, albeit a short smile, and replied, "Merry Christmas."
She stood on her tiptoes and placed a soft kiss on his lips and then turned and went through the door.
As Ziggy walked to his room he had a huge smile on his face; yes this Christmas offered a lot to celebrate, no more Venjix, things were a happy time, and he had just kissed an amazing woman. And with that thought he went to bed knowing things would look even better in the morning.