Title: I Want Her To Look Beautiful
Prompt: The Christmas Shoes by New Song
Words: 108
Summary: Aaron wants to know where his mother is.
A/N: Very AU. This drabble isn't strictly Christmas-related, but I think I am going to expand on it and turn it into a holiday fic.


A hand tugging on his sleeve, he emerges from his stupor (like surfacing from an endless ocean), trying to focus on Aaron's cheerful babble. Claire, leaning against the counter, eyes him disapprovingly; not fooled.

"Is Mommy in heaven?"

The innocent question sends Jack spiraling to his glass, wishing the alcohol could drown out her screams as they echo off the cliff. He still remembers watching her plunge to the rocky waters below; powerless. Tears filling Claire's eyes, she watches her child ask for his mother, still not understanding she's right here.

Holiday music forms background noise for the dysfunctional manger scene; there is no shining beacon of hope.