"What really matters is what you do with what you have."
- H. G. Wells
As with all of these stories, I do not own Warehouse 13.
Chapter 21—Decorations
The B&B
Leena was out in the snow all bundled up. She was a bit devious today, but she was certainly grateful for the help. "Okay, no complaining. It's either help with the decorations or we go back to the Warehouse and do a little more cleaning." Her speech was directed at Pete and Steve.
Steve was working on the next set of lights trying to untangle the knots. Pete was on his way up the ladder. Pete agreed, "Okay, freezing snow is better than all that dust. But this is still pretty high." The ladder was positioned to decorate the steeple in the front of the B&B.
"Yeah, but you make a better target up there," Myka laughed as she threw another snowball at Pete and hit him in the rear. She got a high five from Helena.
Pete pushed some of the snow off the roof at them but it did not go very far. "Okay, no fair, no fair. Vanessa said you have to heal up."
"Yeah, maybe you could work on all these knots," Steve started and was met with snowball on his shoulder.
Helena smiled back. He was so much fun. "No, Sweet. I cannot stand right now and would just have a ball of lights on my lap."
Vanessa had agreed to come and check on everyone, especially after the events in New Jersey. Helena was now using a wheel chair and would for another day. Vanessa was concerned that the bone needed more time to heal before it had more pressure on it from standing or walking. Myka was not much better off. Her wound was still seeping a bit and the pain level was still pretty high. Vanessa had changed her bandages and told her to take it easy.
Currently Vanessa and Artie were back at the Warehouse. Claudia was at the Warehouse working on her programs and asked Vanessa to check some things she found. It gave Vanessa a chance to check her and Kato. She was happy that neither had any problems from the airplane crash.
But Steve was going to fix his problem. He started a snowball that was turning into a massive one. He rolled it on the ground and it was getting big.
Myka saw it. She was already poised with another snowball. "Truce?"
Steve looked up and knew he was going to lose, "Sure."
"No wait, don't break it. We can make it into a snow man," Myka smiled gleefully.
Pete grumbled at Steve as he went up further on the ladder, "Remember, do nothing that will make more work." He got another snowball for the comment.
"I heard that," Myka laughed at him.
"Okay, you win. But is someone going to hold the ladder?" Pete was holding on to the gutter.
The process of hanging the lights and moving the ladder took the afternoon. By dusk they were ready. Leena plugged in the cord to the porch's electrical outlet. She stood back. The lights shone brightly. Leena was quite proud of her crew. There were no injuries and all the lights worked.
Myka clapped and gave Pete and Steve a hug. "Thanks so much. Leena was right, it does help make it like home."
Helena smiled at the lights and the two snowmen Myka and her had finished. It was quite nice and brought back a few memories. Her eyes teared up a little.
Leena gave Pete and Steve a hug too. "Alright we got hot chocolate and Artie's cookies waiting for us. Come on."
Pete got Helena and wheeled her into the B&B and Myka and Steve followed.
Claudia and Kato pulled up to the B&B. The building was trimmed in color lights and there were two snowmen out front. The front door had a wreath with a pineapple in the center and red apples, holly and pine boughs in a circle. Once in the door Claudia could smell a new batch of cookies and saw the coats all hung by the door. She smiled when she saw Artie's coat and Vanessa's too.
The hall had Christmas decorations of Poinsettias and Holly. The China cabinet had Christmas dishes displayed with wreaths and pinecones. Leena started to cross the end of the hall with wrapped presents in her hands. Claudia raced down the hall and up to her room to get the presents she had for everyone.
Kato smiled and followed Leena. He had already taken care of that and was following the scent of fresh cookies. He wasn't surprised that Pete had the tray of cookies surrounded and crumbs down his chin. He asked, "You having a Merry Christmas?"
Pete smiled trying to contain the last cookie, "So she sprung you?"
"Yeah, she said she had her programs running and we had to get back." Kato answered.
"Well yeah, we are going to exchange gifts tonight," Myka responded from her position in the easy chair.
Kato smiled back, "Yeah, I know." He pointed to a stack of presents under the tree. "But she was so into her research, that…"
Claudia came in the room carrying her stack, "I did not. I remembered. I just had to get everything ready." Claudia went to the Christmas tree and placed her presents under the tree. There was a good collection.
Myka looked at her, "You're not going to spend all your time in the Warehouse are you?"
Claudia nudged Kato as he was going for a cookie, "No, we got it worked out. Kato is going to head home tomorrow. He arranged for a security detail with enough folks so they get some time off. And I'll have time to see Dwayne tomorrow night." She noticed Helena smile but not say anything. Helena was in the other chair with the footrest out. She seemed quiet.
Steve was going for the last cookie on the tray when Leena came around the corner with Artie and Vanessa. There was a small chorus of, "Dinner is ready."
Myka and Claudia helped Helena back into her wheel chair and wheeled her into the dinning room. She had the end of the table. Steve sat on her right and Pete on her left. Claudia sat next to Steve and then Kato was next. Rounding out the table was Leena, Vanessa, Artie and Myka. Myka sat next to Pete. The table was decorated with candles, holly and pine. Before they started Artie made the comment about his Dad and a Christmas before getting Claudia to say grace.
Claudia was not expecting that, but as she looked around the table she saw that everyone was waiting on her. "Okay, for us," she smiled, "Dear Lord our Father, blessed are you for keeping us safe and bringing us together at this time. Give us this day to remember and share the birth of Jesus. In your name, Amen."
The serving bowls and platters were passed around the table. Leena had made a small turkey and duck with all the trimmings. Everyone began talking and eating at the same time.
Artie listened to Vanessa explain to Myka, "Yes, the last attempt to go to Vegas was, well a good thing. Now Artie's dad likes to go there and have a little fun. So, Artie and I are going down to Atlanta. It will be a little warmer down there. Are you going home?"
"Oh yes, we are still working the details. Helena is coming with me. We'll spend some time at home and go to the Broadmoor for the day after Christmas special. They have a performance of the Academy Band that evening," Myka explained.
Vanessa looked over to Pete and got his attention, "So where are you going?"
"Home too, Mom has all the relatives coming the day after. It will be a big reunion. Some of the folks like Uncle Charlie and Aunt Eve; gee I haven't seen since I was a kid. It will be fun and better than last time," Pete responded.
Vanessa asked Artie, "So Claudia threw the Warehouse?"
"Yes, she is staying here. Steve and her brother are going to Aspen. She will join them when we get back. And even Leena is going to take a break. She is going home too." Artie finished.
Leena added, "I don't know if it is much of a break, five bothers and two sisters with twenty three nieces and nephews. I asked Pete. We'll have more people at the house than Pete will have at his reunion."
Claudia almost laughed at that. "Kato, how many people are going to your dinner?"
He laughed, "You know it's not really a dinner. And I don't know how many people will be there. It's a luau not a dinner. My brother said he already had four pigs ready and will start them tomorrow night. It will be a couple hundred people or more."
Claudia continued to notice Helena. She wasn't saying much. She got Myka's attention and then nodded to Helena with a question in her eyes. Myka shrugged and nodded that she agreed.
In a little they were all in the living room. Helena was back in the chair with the footrest and Myka was seated beside her in the comfy chair. Artie and Vanessa were across the room on the coach and the others were in chairs around the room.
Myka nodded at Claudia and turned to Helena. "So, before we open the presents, we did want one special present."
Claudia continued, "Yes, we'd like a story of your Christmas with Warehouse 12."
Helena blinked, "Yes of course, and pardon me. That's all I was thinking about. Since I have been back, I had not considered Christmas. The Christmases with Christina were all very precious. But being here did remind me of the night before Christmas soon after I joined Warehouse 12. Christina was with her grandmother that night. We had left the Warehouse early that day so I was able to be with her that afternoon. We played with her dolls and her tea set, making sure each of her friends got their tea on time. She was happy that I was going to party and promised she would go to bed and sleep the night through. The year before she kept getting up in the hope she could see Santa Claus. But that day she agreed to go to bed with a promise that I would wake her early the next day.
"I was dressing in in the guest room. Christina was helping with each of the bows. The dress was a red satin with bows that held holly leaves and berries. We were getting away from the big bustles by then. The dress was off-the-shoulder." Helena smiled at Pete and Kato, "So even by your standards today, it was something that a girl could use to her advantage." Her eyes twinkled. "My hair was gathered into a bun and I wore a nice white pearl necklace as an accent. Christine thought I looked like a princess."
"I had a carriage waiting for me and it was a short ride over to the Savoy Hotel. It had just opened that summer and Caturanga's interest and I must say mine was very high. It was the first building with complete electrical lighting, electrical lifts, and bathrooms with hot and cold water. We met one of the people who later became a manager of the hotel, a Mr. Ritz, and got a tour of the grander rooms.
"Getting back to the party it was much like this. We were treated to the Christmas trees in the lobby and halls. Large red ribbons and bows decorated all of the building. Our dinning room contained a large tree at the corner. There was a fireplace and mantle decorated much the same as the one we have here with pine branches, pinecones and red ribbons.
"Now the story for that Christmas night began when…"
A/N Please leave a review. Helena's story to be posted on Saturday.
Caturanga's History Lesson
A London Christmas 1889 (see A Victorian Christmas-Christmas Celebration, Google).
Evening dresses in 1889 (see Wikipedia).
Savoy Hotel with a little imagining (see Wikipedia).