Dan woke up at five a.m. Right on the dot. He was groggy at first but when he realized he was lying down next to Natalie, he remembered. He was filled with concern once more. He decided not to mention it to her if she didn't remember. What was the point in freaking her out even more if she didn't remember a reason to flip? He silently got up and walked out of the room. He would wake her up at five thirty to say bye to Nellie and Fiske. He went off looking for Nellie.
Of coarse he found her in the kitchen munching on a good old fashion American burger. She looked content. It was time to drop the bomb. "Uh, Nellie," He started off awkwardly, "I need your help with something." He asked, the uncertainty written all over his face.
She looked at him curiously and put her burger down. "What's up kiddo?" She asked, "Everything alright?"
"Not really." Dan said. "Natalie had a nightmare last night. She was screaming and crying. I had to calm her down and get her a glass of water for her to fall asleep again." Dan was drumming his fingers on the table now. He was talking at a clipped pace, his worry evident.
"You don't say..." Nellie drifted off for a moment recalling the conversation she and Natalie had had the day before. And the way she was after "This isn't good Dan." Nellie said with certainty, "I took a couple psychology courses before and I can tell you this, she's not all alright upstairs." She hated to break it to the guy, but it was the truth.
"But how is that possible?" He asked, desperate now for answers, "She's always acting like herself. Only when she sleeps she gets these weird episodes!" He was screaming now. Fear and rage welling up inside him.
Fiske rushed into the room. "What's going on in here?" He said his voice a little louder than usual.
Nellie quickly explained the situation. Then a very disheartened Dan spoke up. "I just want to help her." He said in a quiet voice. "I know Mom would want me to." He said almost talking to himself.
Nellie put a gentle hand on his arm. "Dan I-"
"Why dose everybody look so haunted?" A slightly confused and half asleep Natalie asked.
Dan looked at Nellie with a 'oh-crap-what-do-we-do-now!?' look in his eye. She smoothly filled in for him. "Dan was just trying to get in on my last little bit of American fast food before I hit the streets of Paris." She said with a slight smile and a joking punch in the arm to Dan. She flashed him a 'go-with-it-darn-it!' glance. He received her message.
"Yeah. I decided to hold off on breakfast for now though." He said with a small shrug.
It was Natalie's turn to flash a look. She opted for a 'sure-whatever-I'm-just-here-to-say-bye' look. Complete with a blink and a head scratch. She grabbed a glass of water and turned on the T.V. leaving the Take-Care-of-Nat. crew on their own.
After a few minutes it was time to send of Fiske and Nellie. With a few hugs, high fives and a merry Christmas or two Fiske and Nellie were in the cab and off to the air port. Dan and Natalie stood there bored. "What do you wanna do now?" He asked.
"I'm still too tired to actually do work." She said with a bit of attitude. "Let's eat something and then start decorating. Alright?"
"Alright." He said feeling slightly startled she didn't seem to remember ;ast night events.
Dan made scrambled eggs and toast, while Natalie relaxed and watched television while her breakfast was being made like a princess. They ate in silence while they flipped through cartoons and news really with no purpose to watch anything. After the end of a news piece on a rescued puppy from a burning house Natalie asked Dan about their decorating.
"How long will it take?" She asked.
"Probably the whole day." He answered blandly.
"Where do you keep the decorations?" She asked.
"The attic." He answered unexcited.
"Is there any special way that we need to decorate it?" She asked.
"Nope, what ever your little heart desires." He answered lazily.
"Why are you so down?" She asked with concern.
"Just a little sad spending Christmas without Amy. Never did it before." He answered, his sorrow clear in his voice.
"I feel the same way about Ian." She answered, her pain clear in her voice.
They paused for a minute. "To the attic." They said in unison.
When they got up there Dan took down the boxes of decorations and handed them to Natalie below. They were marked with either 'Dan and Fisk" or 'Amy and Nellie'. Natalie asked why that was.
"Fiske and I have a similar style we prefer. Same with Amy and Nellie, just more complex. So, over the years we've bought separate decorations and decorated different parts of the house." He explained, "My team takes the study and kitchen, while, Nellie and Amy take the entrance. Inside and out." He said with a devilish grin on his face. "We all meet up to do the tree in the living room." He said, a little less evil in his smile.
Natalie was horrified on the inside. "So I have to decorate the out side too? In the snow?" She said as if it were just a casual question.
"Yup," Dan said with excitement, joy coming back to his voice. "Good luck!" He yelled as he was on his way down the stairs, boxes in his hands.
Natalie looked down at the boxes with dread filling in her stomach. Well this should be interesting... Natalie thought to herself. She picked up the 'Amy and Nellie' boxes and went on her way.
It turned out Amy and Nellie preferred more modern, classy, purple and white decorations with silver accents. Right up Natalie's ally. Natalie quickly threw some tinsel and glitter on the front porch, she really did not want to stay out there long. On the inside however, she put her heart and sole into it. She rimed the ceiling with a purple garland. Hung white and silver snowflakes from various heights and rolled our a purple runner over the entire length of the floor. It looked magnificent. Although she was missing the final perfect touch to bring it all together. That's when she reached into a box and found it. It was a little piece of mistletoe with a locket on it. She opened it and reveled a photo of a very happy and a very in love looking Arthur Trent and Hope Cahill kissing. She could barley recall what they looked like because she was so young when they passed away, but she had seen multiple pictures of them in Amy and Dan's house so she knew it was them. She couldn't help but see how much Dan looked like his father. She liked the piece of art, is was classy, simple and sophisticated. She would hang it up later when she could get Dan's help with a latter. She put it in her pocket and set off with the rest off the boxes to the living room to set up the tree with Dan.
Dan set up the study the same way he did every year, as he did the kitchen. Paper rings in a chain for the garland around the ceiling, paper snowmen and mittens hanging all around and bowls overflowing with candy canes and gingerbread in every room. It felt so homey and welcoming. Inviting everyone who walked in to take a seat, eat some gingerbread and relax to enjoy life. It was much of what he missed after the clue hunt. Maybe that's why he appreciated Christmas so much. He always used bit of mistletoe above the fridge as his finishing piece. He always ended up being the only one there at the middle of the night, so he was always good at not getting kissed. He looked back at his work and smiled to himself. This project had really brought back the Holiday cheer in him, despite a special call he had to make earlier to a close Ekat friend for a last minute gift. Still satisfied, he grabbed the other boxes and went to the living room to set up the tree with Natalie.
When they met up Dan simply said "Hey.". But what Natalie heard was "Hey, tell me all about what you did the the front and how all your British stuff is better than mine!". So she did. Dan drowned her out for the most part and by time he tuned her in again the six foot tall tree was put up and half decorated with their odd yet charming mixture of chic new ornaments and old school handcrafted decorations.
"...about it Dan?" He finally tuned in when he heard his name.
"Hmm? What's that Natalie?" He said, half caring.
"I asked what you thought about the tree so far git." She said slightly annoyed.
"Oh, I like it a lot." He answered honestly. "Normally Amy wants things to be perfect and is very careful about where everything goes, but you're much more chill about it."
"Well sometimes it's nice to have a little variety." She said with a shrug. "Oh, also you need to help me put the finishing piece on my part of the house when we're done here."
"Sure thing." He said joyfully, his mind still relishing the happiness of the festivities.
The next few hours were filled with them trimming the tree and singing Christmas carols and dancing with one another. Not remembering they had missed lunch. They were getting along like any other old pair of friends. A sight that would have been shocking to their siblings or relatives, but it felt perfectly natural for the two. They were so comfortable with each other. Dan almost forgetting his deep seeded concern for her. Natalie forgetting to leave an icy edge on her words.
Once they finished the tree they plopped on the couch, exhausted. Natalie put her head on Dan's shoulder and he placed his head on top of hers. "That was harder than I thought." Natalie admitted.
"Same here," Dan said, "I think we did more dancing singing than we did tree trimming." The tree did look a little disorganized.
"Well we're still not done." Natalie said getting up quickly causing Dan to almost fall over.
"What do you mean?" He asked getting up and following her out of the room.
"You still have to help me put up my final piece!" She said cheerily. "Oh, and grab a latter." She informed him.
He stopped them both in their tracks. "Wait. What do you need that's so extreme we need a latter?" He was slightly intrigued and scared at the same time.
"Nothing extreme silly." She laughed, "We just have to hang up this." She said taking the item out of her pocket to show him.
He looked at it. His mouth a gap. "You found this." He said his voice a whisper. "Thank you so much Natalie Kabra. I thought we lost this in the move" He said hugging her.
She hugged him back. "Anytime. I thought it was so adorable we should hang it on the chandler in the foyer." They let go.
"Oh we don't need a latter." He said confidently. "I can reach it now I'm tall enough." He smirked.
So off they went and hung it on the chandler. After that they went up to the CCC to make sure everything was okay in Paris and, of coarse, it was. They ate dinner and watch 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas' before they went to bed. Before they went to their separate doors they said good night as usual. But what Natalie did not know was that Dan waited until he was sure she was asleep and went into her room and slept with her again. Just in case. It paid off too. She almost had an attack, twice. But he calmed her down before she could. He barley slept that night too. Heart still aching for the fact that he could barley help her. He just waited for Christmas day...