A Smart Christmas Mission
Ninety-nine cradled the baby in her arms as she walked closer to the tree.
"I know you're way too little to appreciate this beautiful tree your siblings and your daddy chose. Oh, little Zoe Abigail Smart, you are the best gift that this Christmas could have given us," 99 gushed to her tiny one-month-old daughter.
Suddenly 99 turned around as her husband, Max, brought his hands up to gently squeeze her shoulders affectionately.
"Oh, little Zoe, you are as Smart as your name and as beautiful as your mother," said Max in his Prince of Caronia voice.
"Max? It is you, isn't?" 99 asked to make sure. She had been fooled the entire time that Prince of Caronia came to visit that she did not want to put Max through that humiliation again.
"Of course, it's me, 99. I haven't seen the Prince of Caronia for nearly six months since the last time he visited. Besides, turnaround, I don't have the mustache on. Didn't you see my wedding band?" Max said holding up his left hand.
"Ok, Max, I'm sorry. I just don't want to be wrong. You fooled me once before, remember?" 99 said as she winked.
Stepping closer to her and placing his chin as well has his hand on her shoulders, he looked down at his baby girl. " I think that's how we wound up with the twins. After we made up," Max kissed her cheek and then gently kissed little Zoe's warm baby scented skin.
Suddenly a loud banging could be heard descending from the stairs as Zoe's older siblings came noisily down the stairs to help celebrate the annual Smart Christmas Eve Tradition of opening either one gift from their parents or their gifts to each other. Tonight was special because this was Zoe's first Christmas and although she would be too young to remember any of what would take place 99 and Max knew as well as their children that this Christmas would be one to remember.
Zach, at 15, was as tall as his parents with big blue eyes and light brown hair. He was 99 only in male form. After showing his envelop to his mother, he went and took a place on the floor in front of the big overstuffed couch.
While Zach was 99 in male form, his twin, Maxine, was her father only in a softer more female attractive version. She inherited all of Max's good attributes, beautiful smile, soft gentle brown eyes and long curly dark hair. Once in a while Maxine would look at herself and be upset because she was not as willowy and thin as her mother. She was more solidly built. Not fat, but not model thin…slender was how her mom described her. Maxine was pretty. She sometimes did not feel that way especially when she would walk into a wall like her father. She loved her dad very much but sometimes she wished was not quite so much like him. As Maxine, presented her envelope to her mother she gave Zoe a little kiss and then sat across from Zach in front of the tree.
The next child was by far the most neither like Max nor 99. He must have been some combination of relatives that no one could fathom. Twelve-year-old Avery Smart was tall for his age, big brown eyes, and a bush of light brown hair. He was a strong, active boy who wore everyone out with his incredible energy. Believe or not he loved Zoe at first sight. He loved his little sister and vowed to never let anyone hurt her as long as he was around. He came down the stairs and showed 99 his written envelope. His mom smiled and kissed his head and said she was so happy he had decided to join in their little tradition tonight. He had been dismissed most years as he had been too young to participate, but this year with the arrival of Zoe Abigail, Avery felt every bit a big brother and wanted to show his parents that Zoe was just as important to him as she was to his parents.
"Ok, kids, what do you want to do first?" Max asked just as excitedly as his children. Max had never had much family life until he married 99. He was permanently estranged from his father and brother and had been ever since 99 had known Max. Max's mother died a year before he married 99, so any family had had was now gone. Momentarily thinking of his mom, he thought how proud she would have been that her Max was not living alone anymore. She would have loved his children he thought.
As he spoke he helped 99, still holding the baby, to a seat on the couch behind Zach and as he spoke the light caught a glimpse of the medallion that Max had always worn around his neck. He reminisced about the time he finally told his wife what the medallion was and where it came from….
"Max?" 99 asked as held her in his arms. They had just come back from a difficult case and had earned some vacation. It was their first Christmas together since becoming husbnd and wife. They had spent the last two days making love and barely getting out of bed to eat.
"Max?" 99 repeated.
"Yes, 99?" Max responded sleepily. He was so happy. He had all he wanted in the world lying in his arms.
"What is this medal you always wear," she asked as she lifted the small round gold piece on a chain from Max's chest.
"This is the last bit of memory I have left of my mother. She gave it to me a few months before she passed. It was her St. Christopher Medal that her mother gave her. We, Smarts, as a family were never much into religion but my mother had maintained her Catholic faith and when she died she wanted to make sure that I would be safe in my chosen profession. My mother was the only one who knew that I was a CONTROL agent. I promised her I would never take it off."
"You must have loved your mother very much, love," 99 said placing a kiss on the medal and tenderly placing it back on her husband's chest.
"Yes, I did. She was one of the very best people I ever knew or loved. Now there's another…." Max said nuzzling 99's neck and turning her over so she lie beneath him again.
"Who would that be, Max?" 99 asked innocently placing her arms around her husband's neck and kissing him back.
"You."
"Oh, Max…"
Suddenly coming back to the present hearing his children yell "Dad!" for the fortieth time, Max said, "Ok, who wants to open their letter first?"
"Here, love I have the envelopes here," 99 said as she showed Max the children's envelopes.
"Dad, I'll volunteer if you're going to do that," whined Maxine. She really wanted to read her letter and then get back on the phone with her boyfriend, Troy.
Max said, "Ok, Maxie, go ahead." As he handed Maxine her letter to read aloud, his breath was suddenly taken away with how grownup and beautiful she had become in a short 15 years. Just yesterday, it seemed to Max, that he caught a three-year-old Maxine running to him when he came home from a mission or at the end of a day's work. Also just like him she would run into a door or wall before collapsing in his arms, and he would delightedly feel her little arms wound tightly around his neck and sweet sloppy child kisses on his cheek.
As Maxine reached for the envelope, she noticed the mist that covered her father's brown eyes and tenderly squeezed his shoulder and kissed his cheek. She softly whispered in his ear, "It's ok, daddy." The she recovered herself and stood in front of their large decorated tree and read her letter which culminated all the blessings they had enjoyed in the past year.
Max was very sentimental. When he started this letter tradition so many years ago before the children were born, he had not realized how much it would come to mean to him. Both he and 99 were sometimes too busy to take a good look at their family and in so doing missed many little things. Just as Max's little revelation now realizing how adult and beautiful their eldest daughter had become.
Clearing her throat, Maxine began:
" To all my family: I have to say that I am grateful for everything which we Smarts have been blessed. Number 1 – Mom and Dad are still here together. It seems KAOS hasn't gotten the best of them yet. YAY!..."
Maxine finished up and then the other two children gave their little speeches. Although she was initially happy about the Christmas holiday and the love of her family surrounding her, 99 kept feeling something was out of place. She kissed Zoe's little forehead and then rising, handed the baby to Max, and then ran to the kitchen.
When 99 walked into the kitchen, she put her forehead against the refrigerator door. Feeling how wonderfully cold it felt against her fevered brow, she calmed down and tried to quell the sad feeling lying in the pit of her stomach. She had been having these depressed feelings since Zoe had come home from the hospital. Ninety-nine was positive she was suffering from post partum depression since she had not felt this way until after the baby had been born. She did not thing that anyone else had detected much change in her behavior especially concerning the new baby, but then all 99's years of being a CONTROL agent were not for nothing if she could not put on a good show.
"99, are you all right? The kids want you to see them open their presents," Max asked as he came through the kitchen door. He was not carrying Zoe, but 99 decided not to ask where he had put her. She assumed he put the baby in a safe place. Max had never been a careless father to their children.
Max came around behind 99 and grasped her waist and hugged her tightly. "Maybe we can have our own Christmas celebration if we can get the kids up to bed early." Max kissed the back of 99's neck and moaned seductively.
"Well, maybe, love," 99 answered flatly trying to sound as amorous as her husband.
Before Max could again ask her if all was well, 99 broke from his embrace and slid out the kitchen door.
