Chapter 2: And as we trim the tree, how much fun it's gonna be together

It was four days until Christmas and Terry was helping Mary and Matt pack up the car and head off for Stephanie McGinnis's home. After Terry loaded the last of the bags and everything, Mary looked at her oldest son, "Are you sure you can't go?"

"Yes, Mom," Terry closed the trunk. "You know how Aunt Stephanie is. Best if I stay here. Plus, I'm sure Mr. Wayne is gonna need me the entire time you guys are gone. And, then, of course, there's Max. If I leave now, I better not come back."

She smiled. "Alright, sweetie. Just be careful and no parties."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "At one point, am I here long enough or awake long enough to pull that off?"

She let her mind dwell on that. "You're right. Never mind."

He chuckled.

"Later, loser!" Matt shouted.

Terry looked at his little brother, menacingly. He walked up to the car window and leaned down to look Matt in the face. "Be good, twip! Don't give Mom any trouble! Behave yourself, got me? Else, when you get back, I'll give you trouncing you won't forget."

Matt just stuck his tongue out at his brother. Terry just laughed and tussled his younger brother's hair. Terry stood back up to find Mary staring at him with admiration.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing, you just…" She had to stop herself from crying. "You reminded me of your father, just now."

Terry paused and smirked. "Hey, don't do that! Can't drive with tears in your eyes."

"Right, right." She kissed her son the cheek. "Be good."

"I'll do my best."

"You've done very well with that so far."

Terry stopped. Talk about confirmation. He smiled and nodded.

He watched them drive off, waving at the car as they left. He sighed and decided to go back inside. It just past 9 in the morning, he had a free afternoon, he had the house all to himself, and nothing to do until tonight when the duties of Batman would call him to the city streets. That left only one thing for him to do:

Sleep.

Later that afternoon, Max was in the storage area of her apartment building, going through her apartment's storage space, trying to find her plastic Christmas tree that she put up every year. It was insane the mess in this storage; every year, the tree and other decorations were moved behind something else of her sister's and it would take her forever to get to it. While she would usually have to trek through this mess alone, she remembered, this year, she had an Option B. She pulled out her phone to call Terry but stopped. He was probably trying to rest. But she looked back at the storage and groaned. She had to ask, at least, or she'd be there to late into the night.

She dialed his number and was surprised when he answered on the third ring.

"Hey, what's up?" he answered.

"If you say no to this, I won't be mad, I swear," she said, immediately.

"Huh?"

"It's your day off. You know what? Never mind. Go get some rest."

"Max…"

"It's nothing, Terry. Really."

"Max."

"Just forget I called. Go…"

"Max," he interrupted."Will you tell me what it is before I come over to your house anyway?"

She groaned. "Can you come help me get my Christmas tree? It's in storage and Melissa put all of her junk in front of it. Like she does every year."

He laughed. "Sure."

She still felt bad. She was cutting into his rest time, she knew it. "Terry, you don't have to…"

"Too late. Already made up my mind. On my way."

She smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem."

After he arrived and a half hour of moving trunks of Melissa's clothes, Terry managed to get the six-foot tree out of the storage unit, along with a few other bins containing some holiday flair. Once the tree and decorations were out of the way, he started to put them back.

Max sighed at the mess here. She looked at her best friend, "Thanks a million, Ter."

"Don't worry about it." He put another trunk away. "Why the heck does your sister have so many clothes, anyway?"

"Most of them are probably Mom's that she gave to Mel since she swears she can't fit them anymore." She rolled her eyes, "Like that's even true." She looked at Terry, who was puzzled by her sarcasm. "My mom just likes buying new clothes and looks for any excuse to get rid of old ones."

"Ah!"

"Anyway, it's all for Mel's 'dream closet' she hopes to have some day."

"So, she keeps every bit of clothing she's ever bought along with those given to her?"

"Welcome to the madness."

"Why don't you get the clothes?"

"For what? I don't dress up that often. I'm a creature of habit."

"Noted."

"I sometimes buy clothes just so my closet will look full so she'll stay out of it and not put any of her junk in." She looked at the clothing containers and shook her head, "I swear we could start a department store with her stuff! And I tell her every year to move it so I can get the decorations out! And every year she leaves it right in the way!"

He rested his hand on her shoulder, "Hey, it's no big deal. We survived the going over the Wall, lived to tell about it, and got what we came for. All's well that ends well."

She giggled. "Will you stop watching that show?"

"I am, I am. That was my last one. I'm taking a Christmas hiatus."

"Good." She smiled up at him. "I'm just glad you showed up."

He smirked. "Well, you know my very busy social life…"

She rolled her eyes. "Save it, McGinnis."

He chuckled. He put the last of the boxes away and they took the tree and decorations back to her apartment.

"Whew!" Max exhaled after setting the last container down. "Thanks, Terry."

"Sure." He looked at the containers then at his best friend. "So, what's next?"

"What do you mean?"

"We brought all this stuff up. I'm assuming we're gonna decorate. So, what do you need from me?"

She looked at him confused. "You're staying?"

He checked his watch. "It's only 5. I got plenty of time, Max. Plus, suit's in the car."

She smiled brightly. "Thanks, Terry."

"Why are you thanking me so much?"

"I usually decorate alone." She shrugged, "I usually have to do Christmas shopping alone. I usually do a lot of things Christmas related alone for the most part."

Terry felt a little guilty hearing that. Max never really let her home life affect her. But he didn't let it show. "Well, get over that! You made me spend Christmas with you so you're stuck with me. You brought this on yourself."

"Oh, whatever shall I do?" She paused. "Wait. Going back just a second ago, did you say…" She slowly smiled. "…car?"

He smiled. "Call it increased trust… and an early Christmas gift from Bruce."

"What kind of car?"

He smiled. "A niiiice one."

"Ooooh. Batmobile nice?"

"Close."

"I think I'm in love already."

"Be a good girl and you'll get a free ride."

She giggled. "You're such a nut." She looked at the boxes. "Do you, seriously, wanna help me?"

"Am I still standing here?"

She giggled, "Alright."

They started going to work on putting up small decorations around the apartment, various odds and ends here and there. There wasn't a lot to do since Max was used to doing this by herself but she was very happy to have him around. Terry opened up a container and found something that made him smile: a red Santa Claus hat. He took it out and put it on. Max hadn't seen him yet.

He turned to face her. "So, what do you think?"

"About what?" Her back was to him as she was still putting up decorations.

"This look. Can I pull it off?"

She was confused. "Can you…" She turned and, the second she saw him, burst into laughter. She laughed for a whole minute straight.

Terry just stood there, playfully, acting like he didn't know why she was laughing. "What? What's so funny?"

She caught her breath, catching a tear, still letting out a few giggles. "Why are you wearing that?"

"Just getting into the festive mood."

"Good way to start it."

"I thought so."

They put up the tree and started putting decorations all over it. Max couldn't remember having more fun doing this simple activity than she did today. Terry was just himself and the hat helped make anything he did more entertaining. It was just as much fun for McGinnis; all of it being worth it every time he saw her smile like she was. He'd never known her to smile so brightly. But it looked great on her, nonetheless. As they were getting close to finishing, Max looked down at the small angel tree topper, always wanting to put it on last, and prepared to set it atop the tree. Like every year she had to put it up, she kept forgetting she was shorter than the tree. She found a smaller container to stand on and started to put the topper up. She lost her footing for a second, nearly falling… until the strong arms of her best friend caught her. She looked up at him, very embarrassed.

He was holding back a laugh. "You know I have to ask… how many times have you fallen over doing that?"

Max stood up straight. "It's the same question as if a tree falls in a forest and no one's around to hear it…"

"So, yes to both."

"I'm not telling."

He looked at the angel topper. "Would you mind if I do it this year?"

She shrugged. "I guess that's okay." She smiled.

He put the angel up and stood back. "Tada!"

She rolled her eyes. "You are so corny sometimes."

"Have to be. Comes with the mask."

"That must be a fun training class."

"Not really."

Max giggled. She looked at her watch. "Just past six. I need to do some last minute shopping."

"Took care of mine earlier today."

"What did you get me?"

"Nothing."

Wrong answer. She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Calm down, calm down. I finished shopping for you yesterday."

She smiled. "Oooh! Get me something good?"

"Just wait and see."

"Deal."

Terry smirked. He took off the Santa hat and motioned toward the door, "Come on. You gotta see the car."

"Cool." She looked him over. "Leave the hat on."

He chuckled and placed the hat back on its perch.

They walked outside just as the snow of the evening was starting to set in, even in their coats it was still pretty cold out. Max rubbed her arms as she looked up and down the street, looking for the car, "Where is it?"

Terry smiled and pressed the button on his keychain, turning on the lights and unlocking the car.

She looked at the lights that came on across the street. And was immediately in awe. The jet black car was as advanced as any other but designed in a classic old style that gave made it seem almost regal. Even with the light amount of snow on it, the black finish was shining in the evening light.

Max's mouth was ajar. "Okay… it's official… I'm in love."

Terry looked at her and twisted his face into fake offense. "Are you saying you like the car more than me?"

"Yep."

He shook his head and, sarcastically, remarked, "That's nice." He walked up to it. "Get in. I'll drive you wherever you need to go."

She smiled. "You don't have to do that. I know you have to get on patrol soon."

"And I have time." He walked over to the passenger side and opened the door. "Come on."

She walked over and realized he was holding the door open for her. "A gentleman, are you? I like that."

He gave a bow, "I live to serve you, madam."

"Keep this up and you'll be around every time I go shopping."

"Which happens, with you, once a year."

"Point."

He smiled, closed her door, and got in on the driver side. They drove toward the mall, which was crowded as expected, but Max didn't mind. She knew she had only a couple of more things to get and wasn't as tired since she had help with getting the decorations and putting them up.

Terry looked at the mall and sighed. "What a madhouse! Arkham has fewer crazy people."

Max giggled. "It's Christmas. 'Tis the season to shop like you're a barbarian."

"And how." He had a brilliant idea. "I'll just wait here for you."

She looked at him like he was insane. "Terry. If, and this is a big 'if,' I get everything I'm looking for and get out of there, I'll be an hour, at least."

"And I told you the suit is in the car."

"And no one will notice Batman getting out of a car in the parking lot?"

"At this point, no, but, Max, you forget: I'm Batman." He smirked. "I'm good. I'm very good."

Max laughed. "Lack of self-confidence. Something I would never use to describe you." She sighed. "What if you have to go?"

He smiled. He turned off the car engine, took hold of her hands, and placed the keys inside her palms.

She stared at the keys stunned. She looked at him. "You cannot be serious."

"Yes, I can."

"If Bruce finds out you did this, he'd kill you."

"I must've missed the part where I told you 'this is my car.' He doesn't own it. He gave it to me."

"And your first act is to let me drive it?"

"It's not my first act but yes. You're my best friend and I trust you. I trust you to know that I'm Batman." He shrugged and joked, "Granted the car is more important but…"

She laughed.

"Take the keys, Max. I have a backup set, anyway. I'm not leaving you at a mall, in Gotham, this close to Christmas, by yourself, with no way to get home. I may be jerk but I want you safe and okay so you can call me that."

She looked at the keys and smiled. She looked back at him. Where she would usually have a smart remark or snarky comment, none of those fit in this moment; so, she simply said, "Thanks, Terry."

He nodded. "You're welcome."

She got out and headed into the mall. Terry watched her until she disappeared inside. He pulled out his spare set of keys, turned the battery back on, turned on the radio, and reclined the seat back, waiting until she came out or it was time for him to go protect the city.

Max didn't exit the mall until just over two hours later. She arrived back at the car to find her best friend had already taken off into the night to keep the city safe. She got in the car and found a note on the dashboard, attached to the Santa hat.

"Had to go. Take care of her. She's brand new. But, above all else, get home safe. – Terry."

She smiled and started it up. "Thanks, Terry," she said to herself.

She was actually grateful that he wasn't there: she picked up an extra gift for him, which is what took her a little longer. It was a bit pricey than what she was used to spending on a gift for anybody but it was for Terry. That alone made it worth it.

A/N: Sooooooooooooo, what do you guys think so far?! I love your reviews! Please, keep 'em coming!