Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Everything else belongs to someone else and that's the way it is. Thanks to reading, I hope you like it.

Merry Christmas To All, especially Lena

Beneath The Tree

When Chairman Meow was thoroughly drenched Church turned off the water once more, using his teeth then to drag one of the bathroom's hand towels off the nearby rack. Dragging it over and across the counter Church looked over his handiwork before turning his attention to the mess shivering at the bottom of the sink. Seeing that the much tinier cat wouldn't be able to get out of the sink alone, Church slid down and gingerly picked Chairman up by the nape again, leaping back up onto the counter with one graceful bound. Setting the cat down on the towel Church used his teeth to drag the towel up and over the red, white and green cat.

"Roll around in the towel, get yourself dry." He sure as heck wasn't helping with that part, Church thought as he stuck his tongue out in disgust. He already had a bad taste in his mouth from carting the other feline around.

Watching the towel move while the cat within rolled Church waited what he hoped was enough time before he tugged the towel off the other cat to get a look at how bad the damage still was.

If Church could have laughed he would have broken all his ribs doing so.

The shivering feline's white fur was covered in red and green splotches, sticking up all over the place in some places and matted in others. One bow still clung heroically to the cat's tail, soaking wet and looking utterly ridiculous.

Chairman Meow looked like he was ready to cry. "I look awful, don't I? Worse than a drowned rat. I probably look worse than one of those fro fro dogs airheads carry around in their purses like toys. Why couldn't a werewolf have just eaten me instead?" He added with a pitiful wail of self pity.

'Why would a werewolf want to eat you? You'd be down in one gulp and Magnus would kill the stupid furball afterwards." Church pointed out, feeling a little bit bad at the hurt look on the other cat's face. "Well come on then, lets get you out of here." Picking the cat up once more by the nape Church was more than a little concerned when the usually loud cat didn't make a sound of protest. Maybe the vain cat had gone into shock, Church considered as he hopped off the sink and onto the toilet lid, hopping from there to the floor.

He'd intended to deposit the pesky cat in the bedroom for their pets to fuss over later, but Church knew that the odds of Alec and Magnus turning in anytime soon were low. And he wasn't entirely sure it would be safe to leave the oddly behaving cat by himself in this sort of mood. Chairman Meow could be a very unpredictable feline at times.

And so with a mental sigh Church headed for the Christmas tree, resigned to doing his duty.

)

Church's bed basket was under the tree due to his love of the Christmas lights and smell of the real pine tree. Setting the shivering cat in his basket Church leapt over the silent fluff ball and sighing over the staining of his bedding and his fur spooned himself around Chairman, instinctively wrapping his tail over the little cat's back like a blanket.

Curling up into as tight a ball as possible Chairman laid there and tried not to think about how pathetic he was feeling. That Church was really, really soft and warm was annoying, especially since his fur was looking pretty stupid at the moment. He hadn't been brave enough to look in the mirror at the damage but Church's expression had said it all. He was probably making the Grinch look pretty right about now, Chairman silently moaned. This was going to be the worst Christmas ever!

"Marley was dead."

Chairman Meow was so surprised by Church's words that the little cat forgot he was being miserable. "What? Marley is dead? Who's Marley? I don't know anyone named Marley. Why are we talking about a dead person I don't even know on Christmas? What kind of dog/cat are you? It's Christmas!"

"That's the opening line for Charles Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol'." Church informed the smaller cat, letting the dog comment go for the time being. "One of my past pets used to read that story to her kittens every night in stages during the Christmas week leading up to Christmas Eve. It seemed to make them happy enough, even the parts that were supposed to be frightening. I was going to tell you what I remember of it to take your mind off your ridiculous appearance. You're sorta acting like the main character in the story anyway. Scrooge was a pretty miserable individual."

"Quit making fun of me, Church! If you'd been there you'd look just as bad as I do right now! Probably even worse!"

"Unlike you I wasn't stupid enough to go over there knowing I'd be surrounded by drunk Downlanders." Church countered in the superior tone Chairman hated. "I avoid them whenever possible and that's kept me around longer than you can count."

"I can count." Chairman muttered as he sulked, too worn out to get really mad at the other cat like usual. And besides, he was really comfortable where he was and Church would definitely kick him out if he became too annoying for the fat cat to stand.

"So back to Scrooge then?" Church asked, wanting to change the subject. He didn't want to have to treat Chairman Meow like Scrooge treated Bob Cratchit in the story. It would reflect badly on him, to kick the little creature when he was down.

Chairman Meow blinked in surprise as he recognized that unusual name. "Scrooge? I know Scrooge. He was in 'The Muppets Christmas Carol'. I love that movie!"

"O-kay." Church didn't know what muppets were, but decided to guess that they might be similar to puppets. A puppet show about the classic novel? Most humans weren't intelligent enough to read and understand Dickens's works after all, Church thoughtfully hypothesized. How sad that they had to use puppets now to educate the mindless masses. That that was how Chairman Meow and Magnus knew the story didn't surprise the large feline that much either. His warlock pet didn't seem to read anything but tabloids, spell books and entertainment magazines.

"Wanna watch the movie? We have it on Blue-ray." Chairman offered after a thoughtful silence. He doubted the larger feline had ever seen the muppet version, and it was one small way he could help repay the other cat for helping him out with his fur problems.

"Which would be in the other loft, wouldn't it?" Church pointed out, feeling a little bad for disappointing the cat when Chairman's face fell once more. "We could try to sneak into the video room if you wanted." He didn't want to, but in the spirit of Christmas and all that he was willing to try. So long as he didn't have to carry the little bugger again, Church silently amended. He drew the line at that.

Chairman shook his head firmly, just the thought making him instinctively curl up close to Church's side. "I am not going back there. You tell me the story instead and I'll add in the parts from the muppets' movie."

Church thought that was sort of a stupid idea, but he didn't want to have to deal with the depressed furball either so he gave in for the moment. "Okay, so Marley was dead and the story begins with his grouchy old partner Ebenezer Scrooge."

"Narrated by Gonzo and Ratso."

"What?" Churched stared down at the cat in surprise. There were no characters with those names in the novel. "Who are Gonzo and Ratso?"

"They're the narrators." Chairman Meow explained in a tone of voice that indicated that should be obvious, the little cat's eyes drooping as he absorbed the warmth coming off the other cat's body. "Gonzo is…well I'm not really sure what Gonzo is. He's blue and has a long nose like a banana. Ratso is a sarcastic, wise cracking rat. They tell the story in the muppet movie."

"A rat? There's a rat in your version of the story?" Church shook his head at the abstract painting that was now Chairman Meow in disbelief. "And you call me a dog/cat. What kind of cat are you, to want to hear a story narrated by a filthy rodent and his blue friend?"

Chairman shook his head right back, though he could understand how the other cat could have that misconception. He didn't like rats either, but Ratso was the exception. "No, Ratso is sick, Church. He's the exception to the rule. All the other rats can die horrible, horrible deaths at my claws. And Ratso isn't a real rat anyway. He's a muppet. He just sorta looks like a rat."

Church looked down at the small cat thoughtfully. "Are your claws even big enough to kill a rat?"

"I got away from the elves, didn't I? They looked worse than me when I was done with them." That was a bald face lie, but Chairman refused to believe otherwise. And he had certainly drawn blood, it wasn't just polish on his claws, Chairman thought with a hint of pride. He'd made those ugly plant people sorry.

The older cat snickered as a thought occurred to him. "You were beating on elves on Christmas Eve."

"They weren't those kind of elves!" Chairman protested with more than a little indignation.

"How do you know?" Church shot back with a devious gleam in his eyes, too used to teasing the little guy not to. "Maybe they are the elves that help Jolly Old Saint Nick at Christmas time. Now you won't get any presents, Chairman Meow, you'll be on the Naughty List forever."

"I will not! There's no such thing as Santa Claus and I am too getting presents. I'm getting loads of presents. My pet always spoils me rotten at Christmas and now that I have Alec I'll be even more spoiled. I'll be the most spoiled cat ever for Christmas."

Church shook his head at the thought, a little horrified at the idea that it might be possible for the little cat ego to become even bigger. "You're already spoiled enough as it is."

Chairman Meow stared up at Church with his ego firmly inflated for the time being as he superiorly corrected the misinformed feline. "One can never be too spoiled, Church."

"That's a matter of opinion."

"Just shut up and tell me the story, you ignoramus."

He thought sincerely about making a crack about how that was a big word for a small cat, but Church sucked it up and was the bigger cat. Both literally and figuratively, Church thought with a faint grin as he answered the impatient Q-Tip. "As you wish, your Chairman-ship." And with another shake of his head Church once again began telling the Christmas Carol.

)

Walking into their bedroom Alec shrugged off the arm Magnus had slugged over his shoulder. Ignoring the neck kisses he was getting from the warlock Alec headed for the door leading into his loft with difficulty, Magnus certainly not making it easy for him to move where he wanted to go. "Magnus, quit it." Alec ordered when Magnus tries to steer him towards their bed. "Your loft is full of people right now and I have to check on the cats."

"The cats are fine, luv. It's me who needs your love and attention." Magnus purred out with a grin, nuzzling his face against the side of the Shadowhunter's neck.

"There were two very drunk elves at your party who were sporting facial scratches and cursing Chairman Meow's existence very vocally when they stormed out. I want to make sure that he's okay and I can't find him on your side of the residence. If he went to my side then he must be desperate. Church is there and we aren't."

"Chairman's a tough little guy. I'm sure he's fine." Magnus yanked Alec back against him by the man's hips, leaning in to whisper suggestively in the Shadowhunter's ear. "That's not a candy cane in my pocket you know. So why don't we-."

Alec rolled his eyes, doing his best not to think of the various suggestions Magnus was no doubt planning to make about his 'candy cane'. "What is it about Christmas that turns you into such a ho, ho, ho?"

Not the least bit insulted Magnus laughed at the comment and nipped the bottom of the other man's ear in retaliation.

"Look, go back to your party and I'll be back momentarily." Alec promised, breaking free of the warlock's hold reluctantly.

"No you won't. You'll find some excuse to stay in your loft as long as possible because you don't like wild, drunken parties. You're just using the cats as a diversion." Magnus charged, wagging a finger at the Shadowhunter. "But I'm on to you, my sexy Shadowhunter. And you promised to come to my party if I promised to let you pick out the outfit I'm wearing to the Institute for Christmas Day dinner."

He had indeed promised, and he was a man of his word. However... "I'm going to go check on the cats. You can come with me if you want but I'm going. And this does not negate our deal either." Alec added with a warning look.

"Fine then, let's go and check on the kitty cats."

Walking over to the door with Magnus Alec opened the door, eyes narrowing slightly at the sight of sparkles all over his hardwood floors. That hadn't struck him unusual in their bedroom, there was always sparkles scattered there no matter how many times he vacuumed. But these sparkles were in strangle clumps and following them down the stairs Alec raised an eyebrow at the splatter pattern on the bottom of his stairs. "Okay….that so better not be blood."

The Shadowhunter's words had Magnus's grin dying a quick death, the warlock kneeling down beside Alec to check out the strange reddish brown stain on the landing. "I don't know what it is but it's not blood."

Together the two followed the faint sparkle trail into the bathroom, finding the sink stained and a ruined towel that looked at though it had been in contact with red, brown and green hair dye.

"Let's go find Church, he's probably in his basket under the tree. He'll know where Chairman Meow is if he's over here." Hurrying out of the bathroom Alec knelt down beside the tree to look under it, a look of shock coming over his face as he stared at the sight before him. "Magnus…you're never going to believe this."

Crouching down beside Alec Magnus stared at the two cats as well, shaking his head as he chuckled. "Well I'll be. Talk about your Christmas miracles."

Their cats were curled up together in Church's bed, Chairman's fur a bright mix of Christmas colors against Church's normal hue. The little cat was pressed up against Church's side on his back, the larger cat's tail lying over and around Chairman's stomach like a blanket. The two seemed to fit somehow, looking completely natural together for the first time either man could remember since the two felines had crossed paths.

"It probably helps that they're both asleep and therefore can't argue or make faces at each other in their feline ways." Magnus drawled out as he reached out to carefully stroke the top of Chairman Meow's head. "Looks like the elves decided to give Chairman Meow a makeover. No wonder their faces were so scratch up. He always goes for the eyes when anyone other than me does that to him." And even then he had to bribe his pet before the cat would submit to the sparkles and bows.

"Good to know." Not that he would ever do that to the poor cat, Alec thought as he studied the damage, reaching out to remove the bow dangling from Chairman's tail. "I guess we leave them for the night? We can fix Chairman Meow's fur tomorrow. I'd hate to wake them and spoil their temporary truce."

"Maybe them getting along is their Christmas present to us?" Magnus suggested as they got to their feet, wrapping an arm around the Shadowhunter's waist when they were both standing in front of the tree once more.

Alec grinned as he met his warlock's gaze. "Second best present of the night then."

The warlock's eyebrow rose questioningly, intrigued. "What was the best present? You haven't opened any of the amazing presents I bought for you. Unless you peeked. Did you peek, Alexander Lightwood?"

Not sure how to take Magnus's reaction Alec just smiled and reached out to cup the man's head, drawing the warlock's head down for a long, slow kiss. "The best present will be when I'm cuddled up against you later tonight."

"And that will be something we can always agree on."

The two heading back towards the party Alec glanced back one more time, his voice soft and low.

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night."