Crow and Servo entered the kitchen and began 'cleaning up' their messy breakfast, while simultaneously creating a second bigger mess! Sticky plates covered in syrup clung to the table and a the floor as Crow tried to clear the table and put the used dishware in the sink. Servo was struggling to get the water running in the sink, considering he had inarticulate hands that couldn't grip anything.
"Heads up, Servo!" Crow called out as he tossed plates and silverware up into the sink.
"Watch it!" Servo complained as he hovered away from the sink, attempting to avoid the splashing, soapy water.
"Just one more!" Crow got down on his knees to pry a plate off of the linoleum floor. "Got it!"
"Good." Servo watched as the dishes began soaking in the warm water. "Now, let's mop up that syrup before the ants come."
"The ants come marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah..." Crow began singing to himself as he pulled the mop out of the supply closet in the hall.
"Shh!" Servo tried to shush Crow's singing. "Don't wake Mike or Joel! They're sick, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah, I remember." Crow grumbled under his breath as he dipped the mop in the bucket. "We need to get a Swiffer!"
"Shh!" Servo shushed Crow again. "I'm going to clean up the sitting room."
Crow mopped the kitchen floor, cleaning up the sticky syrup puddles and other spilled items. Servo hovered into the sitting room and collected all the torn up wrapping paper that he and Crow left behind during their mad scramble to open their gifts. Piece by piece Servo collected the small bits of paper, ribbon and bows from the floor and coffee table.
"Careful..." Servo muttered to himself as he hovered around Mike asleep on the couch. "Don't wake the baby..."
With all the collected paper awkwardly tucked under his stationary arms and hands Servo exited the sitting room and made his way back into the kitchen to toss the paper in the recycling bins.
"Done." Servo declared as he put the tossed the paper.
"Same!" Crow wrung out the mop with his claws. "Gross..."
"You know, sometimes I'm glad my hands don't work."
Crow didn't reply to Servo's jab. "Glad we don't have guests everyday. Clay and Frank are really nice, but they all create big messes!" He instead chose to focus on Joel and Mike. "Now what do we do?"
"Well, the kitchen's clean and the sitting room's clean. It's just past 1pm and we can't make any noise so Mike and Joel can sleep..."
"Yeah, they're sick. Want to play paintball in the garage?"
"Nah, besides we're out of blue paintballs. Why don't we decorate the sitting room? You know, add more color and really bring out the Christmas spirit!"
"Yeah!"
The two robots went to their bedroom and gathered up all the markers, crayons, pens, paper and paint they could find. Afterward they went into Joel's workshop to gather some tools before heading into the attic to find the rest of the decorations that hadn't been put up.
Crow was tangled in a mound of colored lights and Servo was wrapped up in spools of green ribbon.
Pulling the lights away from his mouth Crow looked at Servo. "I'll go outside and add more lights, you stay inside and string up everything in ribbon."
"Good plan!"
All through the remaining afternoon and all through the evening the two kindhearted robots decorated their home to ensure that Joel and Mike would be festive moods on Christmas morning.
Joel was awakened by a noise outside his bedroom window. Something heavy hit the window from the outside, against the glass. "What the...?"
He sat up on his bed, groggy and confused. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and realized he was no longer wearing his glasses. As he reached for the glasses sitting on the nearby table he caught a glimpse of something golden swinging by his window at the end of a string of lights.
"What... Crow?!" Joel jumped from his bed and opened the window.
"Hi, Joel!" Crow greeted happily as he swung by the window, upside down in the lights. "Feeling better?"
"Crow, what on Earth are you doing?!"
"Putting up lights."
"Why? There's enough outside already, you don't have to risk your life over something as silly as lights!" Joel reached out and grabbed Crow's arm as he swung by again.
"Silly? C'mon Joel! It's the Christmas spirit!"
"Crow..."
"No, I mean, it is! Besides, you and Mike are sick and that's no way to spend Christmas! We wanted to make you guys feel better!"
Joel couldn't help but grin at Crow's gesture of kindness. Carefully Joel unwrapped Crow's lanky limbs from the long string of lights and pulled the bot back inside the house through the window. "Get in here you nut."
Crow was happy to rejoin his family inside the warm house. "Brrr! Thanks!"
"Where's Tom?"
"Downstairs. He's in the sitting room."
"And Mike?"
"Same."
"Well, let's go see what they're doing."
"But Joel, you're still sick! Shouldn't you still be resting?"
Joel had forgotten about his sore ear for a moment, but it was then he realized that the pain was almost gone. "Actually, I think I'm getting better. I'm not dizzy any more and I can hear just fine."
"Really? It's a Christmas miracle!" Crow cheered. "Hallelujah!"
"I doubt if this counts as Christmas miracle, Crow."
"Don't ruin it!"
"Come on, let's go see what the others are up to."
Walking downstairs together Joel and Crow spotted Servo hovering around the sitting room, which was now completely garnished in green ribbon, red bows and garland.
"Whoa..." Joel commented at the lavish decorating. "You did a really good job, Tom."
"Joel!" Servo wasn't expecting to see Joel awake just yet. "Buddy, you're up. And you look so much better!"
"I feel better. Did you two spend the entire day cleaning and decorating?"
"Well, most of it."
"Thank you. Hey, where's Mike?"
Servo turned to look at the couch. "Under the mistletoe..."
"Huh?" Joel turned and looked at the couch where Mike was sleeping.
Mike had been wrapped in ribbon and bows, with a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling right over his head.
Crow noticed the carefully hung plant and laughed wickedly. "Me first!"
"No!" Joel managed to grab the gold robot as he jumped into the air. "Let him sleep..."
"Fine, but as soon as he's awake..."
On that note Mike yawned and opened his eyes. He was no longer sneezing and his color was much better, far less pale. "Hey guys, what's..." He noticed he couldn't move his arms very well under all the ribbon that was tied around him. "What's going on?"
Servo hovered up to Mike on the couch. "It's Christmas! That's what's up!" Servo then kissed Mike on the cheek!
"What the!?"
"My turn!" Crow wrestled free from Joel's arms and planted a kiss of his own on Mike's other cheek.
Mike awkwardly fell off the couch in attempt to get away from the two robots. "Joel... Did I miss something?"
"Yeah, we both did."
Joel leaned down on the floor to untie the ribbon around Mike's arms. "The bots have been taking care of things while we slept."
"Oh... What time is it?"
Joel pulled a wad of ribbon free and looked at his watch. "It's going on 9pm."
Servo and Crow gasped and looked at each other excitedly. "Three hours until Christmas!"
Finally freed of the ribbon Mike stood up and looked around the sitting room. "Man, you guys really are excited."
"Yup!" Servo agreed.
"Crow scoffed. "Was there really any doubt?"
Joel sat down on the couch, opposite the mistletoe. "Well... Since it's only three hours from Christmas and you guys have been very helpful..."
Crow climbed up on the couch and looked eyes with Joel. "Are you saying... We... Can..."
"I think so."
Servo pushed his dome against Mike's shoulder. "What do you say, Mike? PLEASE?!"
"Well... Okay. Go for it!"
"YAY!" The two bots dove under the Christmas tree and started going through the pile of presents. "Hey wait... These are all for you two!"
Joel laughed to himself. "Your presents are upstairs"
"But... we looked upstairs..."
Mike cleared his throat. "But, not since I got back."
"Wait..." Servo was putting the pieces together. "You had our gifts ALL ALONG?!"
"Yup."
Crow laughed a little. "Heh, good one!"
Joel took a bow. "Thank you."
"So...?"
"Right," Mike playfully slapped Joel on the shoulder as he laughed himself. "I'll go get the gifts and we'll have our Christmas."
-The End
