Hi awesome people! I freaking love Christmas and this time of year is a big deal for me, so all my holiday planning and family time hasn't given me a lot of chances to sit down and type up the newest chapters of this fic. But I didn't want to leave you guys hanging during the holiday season, so I stayed up late last night to write this super quick little bonus chapter sort-of-thing to tide you over until I get back on track with the actual story. Hope you enjoy a little bit of Christmas fluff. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
~Sydney
"Here we are, Z. Home sweet home."
Aphrodite unlocked the door to her house, and she and Zoey stepped into the mansion together. It was Tuesday evening, one day after the nightmare spell over Zoey had been broken. While Zoey spent the day resting and recovering at her grandmother's house, Aphrodite had been in school, spending all of her classes being distracted by her impatient clock-watching and counting down the hours until the school day was over and she could hurry back to Zoey.
Sure enough, as soon as the last dismissal bell had rung, Aphrodite and the Nerd Herd made a beeline back to Grandma Redbird's home to visit the Power Freak once again. Physically, Zoey was doing much better than she was just less than twenty-four hours ago. She wasn't tired and run-down, didn't need to be confined to her bed, and was generally starting to seem back to her normal self. Her grandmother decided that she was doing well enough to go back to Aphrodite's house later that afternoon, and the blonde happily obliged.
So now it was nearing 7 p.m., and Zoey was standing in the familiar foyer for what seemed like the first time in a while.
"The place hasn't changed much, huh?" the brunette said jokingly as Aphrodite shut and locked the front door behind them.
"Oh please, you know you were only out for five days."
"Yeah, but we weren't on speaking terms before I even got that spell put on me, remember? So really, it's been over a week since I've been here," Zoey reminded her as they headed into the living room.
"Are you still doing okay? You need to lie down or something?" Aphrodite asked with uncharacteristic concern. She had spent the past couple of hours with her eyes locked on Zoey like the girl would suddenly pass out at any moment.
Zoey gave her a bemused smile.
"I'm fine, Aphro. I'm just as fine as I was when you asked me half an hour ago," she answered as she sat down and made herself comfy on the sofa.
"Alright, I'm just checking. Just trying to be courteous," Aphrodite said airily, casually brushing off her mini-moment of anxiety.
"Just being courteous, got it," Zoey laughed. "It's not like you're worried or anything, right?"
"Right," Aphrodite sat down next to Zoey and absentmindedly turned on the huge flat-screen with the remote.
Suddenly, Zoey let out a little sigh.
"The only problem is...well..." the brunette looked down at the floor despondently.
"...Your control over the elements," Aphrodite answered for her.
Zoey had tried and failed to summon spirit to her side the night before, and so far, she still didn't seem to be able to call upon any of the elements. She would try to summon air or spirit, just to test things out, but even with all of her focus, concentration, and willpower she couldn't get the elements to respond. It was a scary and troubling thing to her, but Aphrodite had been doing her best to convince her otherwise and keep her calm.
"I told you Z, just give it a little time," she said. "You were under a spell cast by dark magic, there's no way you can possibly be 100% yet, which means you still can't do all the things you usually can."
"You say it like I've just been sick or something," Zoey muttered.
"You've been worse than sick, which is why you should definitely just be patient and let yourself fully recover before you go jumping to conclusions."
Zoey still wore an upset expression and seemed far from convinced, so Aphrodite put a reassuring arm around her.
"You might as well just trust me, Power Freak. You know I'm cursed with the burden of always being right," she said matter-of-factly.
That brought a tiny smile out of Zoey, who slowly started to figure that there really was no point in freaking out so soon. She needed to wait until she was sure of what was happening to her, when things weren't so up in the air. With that in mind, she tried to push her nervous worry to the back of her thoughts and focused instead on the tv in front of her.
"...Oh hey, I love this movie!" Zoey said excitedly, upon realizing what exactly she was looking at on the screen.
Aphrodite turned towards the television as well, curious as to what Zoey was watching.
"...You know, I've never actually seen this before," Vision Girl said offhandedly, not thinking it was that big of a deal until she turned to see Zoey staring at her with wide, disbelieving eyes.
Aphrodite stared right back, wondering why her girlfriend had suddenly decided to do her best impression of a goldfish.
"What?" the blonde asked in total confusion.
"Aphrodite LaFont, how have you never seen How the Grinch Stole Christmas? ?" Zoey blurted incredulously. "Did you not have a childhood?"
"We both know the answer to that, Zo," Aphrodite said with a wry smile.
Zoey frantically shook her head.
"No, I mean, I know your childhood wasn't all rainbows and sparkles, but you're not trying to tell me your parents are anti-Christmas, are you? ?"
Aphrodite shrugged.
"Not exactly. I've just never really been able to feel that whole 'spirit of Christmas' thing. This time of year my dad is usually busy with all sorts of city charity functions—you know, showing up, smiling for the press, making sappy speeches, convincing everyone that their money is going to needy children instead of renovating our vacation home, the usual. Plus, my parents are always getting invited to all manner of fancy holiday parties, and if I wasn't dragged along and forced to mingle or maintain a good image all night then I'd just end up home alone for Christmas. Like every other day of my life, my parents just don't make time for this sort of stuff."
Zoey couldn't believe it. Aphrodite's mother and father were always so busy using the holiday season as yet another opportunity for social-climbing and image-building that Aphrodite herself had never seemed to have a normal Christmas.
"Well this year's going to be different," Zoey said firmly, her expression already set with resolution. "This year you have me, and I'm going to make sure you have at least one happy and joyful holiday memory to look back on for the rest of your life."
Aphrodite chuckled.
"You sound like one of those claymation elves," she teased.
"I'm serious Aphro," Zoey stood up from the couch. "C'mon, this will help distract me from everything that's happened recently, and after all the crazy crap we've gone through these past few months we could definitely use a little holiday cheer."
"What exactly are you planning on doing? You know Christmas is over a week away," Aphrodite said, still wondering where Zoey was going with all of this.
Zoey smiled, with plans and ideas already starting to formulate in her head.
"Have you seen how big your house is? It would probably take over a week to decorate it anyway," she said.
Aphrodite raised an eyebrow.
"You want to decorate the house? Seriously?"
"Why not? This'll be fun, Aphrodite. And after spending the past five days trapped in my own worst nightmares, this will definitely help me feel better. So c'mon, you're never too old for holiday fun. Do it for me," Zoey said with an eager smile.
Aphrodite looked skeptical for a little bit, but she soon conceded, unable to resist the brunette's puppy dog eyes.
"...Fine, I'll do it for you," she said, standing up from the couch too. "I'll play along with your little Christmas therapy thing. But you realize we've got absolutely nothing here to decorate with. The only time this place gets decorated is when my parents are the ones throwing the Christmas parties, and in that case they just hire party planners."
"No problem, we can drive over to storage and get some of my family's things. We've got tons of boxes of stuff."
"Won't your ultra-religious parents need everything they can get their hands on for their own high-maintenance decorating?" Vision Girl asked.
Zoey shook her head.
"Nope. Ever since my mom married the Step-Loser our holiday decorations for the past three years have consisted of less tinsel and more scarily detailed figurines of Jesus nailed to a cross," she answered grudgingly.
Aphrodite started to lead the way back to the foyer, where she had left her car keys on a table.
"Sounds nice and cheerful," she said sarcastically.
"Totally. Especially when you're getting water in the middle of the night and you swear one of them is in a different place than when you last saw it," Zoey laughed, following after her.
"Well I'm just letting you know right now that while we're decorating, I will not be wearing a Santa hat. My hair is far too perfect to be ruined by hats," Aphrodite said flippantly.
Zoey rolled her eyes.
"You're so full of the holiday spirit."
"What the hell is this thing supposed to do?" Aphrodite said, pulling an odd-looking Santa doll out of one of the boxes that were piled around the living room.
Zoey, who was weaving colored lights through the railings of the grand staircase, almost didn't hear Aphrodite over the Christmas music that was loudly playing through the living room stereo (Power Freak's idea, not Vision Girl's). But she looked over at the blonde anyway, with her face lighting up when she saw what the girl was talking about.
"You found the dancing Santa!" she said excitedly, already almost completely taken over by the magic and happiness of Christmas time. She hurried down the stairs and over to Aphrodite. "This used to be my mom's favorite. You'd squeeze his hand and then he'd dance around and shuffle his feet, it was the cutest thing. But then he stopped working one day, and we couldn't figure out why. We can still put him somewhere though, he's just so darn cute."
Zoey laughed, and Aphrodite watched her out of the corner of her eye with a small smile on her face. After the way the brunette had been acting yesterday–somewhat dazed and a little traumatized by her nightmares—Aphrodite was happy to see her enjoying herself, happy to see her laughing easily like she was starting to feel back to normal.
"So Aphrodite, are you having fun yet?" Zoey asked, searching around the room for a place to set up the little Santa.
"I'm getting there," she said, searching through another box for more decorations. "All this manual labor is ruining my nails, but if my parents walked in right now and saw the house like this they'd have a heart attack, so that would be really fun."
Zoey sighed.
"I think you're missing the whole point of Christmas joy and goodwill."
"If you met my mother and father you'd find the idea of them having a conniption a very joyous thought indeed," Aphrodite mumbled.
Zoey got the Santa positioned on an end table and joined the blonde at her side again, hurriedly changing the subject.
"You know what we really need to get? A Christmas tree," she said.
Aphrodite glanced up from the box of decorations to look at her girlfriend like she had lost her mind.
"I am not hauling a Christmas tree all the way in here, that would seriously screw up my nails and I'd be cleaning pine needles out of my hair for weeks," she argued.
"Oh get a grip, Aphro, it's a tradition. And speaking of traditions..." Zoey grinned widely and held her hand out above her head. "Guess what I found."
Aphrodite looked up to see what Zoey was holding in the air, and couldn't stop herself from smiling deviously.
"Mistletoe? How long were you waiting to spring that on me?"
"Found it in one of the boxes twenty minutes ago. It's fake, but we've both got good imaginations, right?"
Aphrodite's answer was to happily partake in the Christmas tradition, leaning in and kissing Zoey while letting her fingers gently run through the girl's hair.
"Did I ever mention how glad I am that you're back?" Vision Girl asked, touching her forehead to Zoey's and looking adoringly into her eyes.
"You did, but a couple more times wouldn't hurt."
Aphrodite smiled. This was definitely a tradition she could get used to.
"Zoey, do me a favor and just sit down already, would you?" Aphrodite complained. It was almost 10 o' clock, and she was kicked back on the living room couch watching Zoey bustle around the room as the girl tried to put the finishing touches on their Christmas decorations. "You've been tearing around for two hours. I know you're enjoying this, but don't wear yourself out too soon."
"I'm fine, Aphrodite," Zoey insisted, even though she really was starting to feel a little tired.
She shuffled over to the sofa and dropped down next to the blonde, looking around the living room and admiring their work; Christmas lights hung on the staircase, tinsel framing the doors and entryways, bows and wreaths hanging on the walls—all in all, it was a fairly decent job for a house that had never been personally decorated before.
"Looks good," Zoey said. "It could still use a little more work though. And the rest of the house needs to be done too."
"You have plenty of time to turn this place into a living Christmas card, but just settle down for a little bit."
"Alright, alright, I'm settling. But you have to do me a favor too and put your Santa hat on," Zoey, who had already been dressed for the part in her own little hat, reached down onto the floor where the one intended for Aphrodite had lain discarded and abandoned.
Aphrodite shook her head.
"I told you, I am not messing up my hair."
"It's the middle of the night, no one's going to see your hair!"
Aphrodite turned to look at Zoey, who was once again giving her best sad little puppy expression, and let out an irritated sigh.
"Fine, just give me the damn thing and stop bothering me about it," she grumbled, snatching the hat out of Zoey's hand and placing it carelessly on her head.
Zoey reached up to readjust it a bit, smiling when the two of them were finally in their matching attire.
"Admit it. You had fun, didn't you?" the brunette prodded.
Aphrodite shrugged.
"I had fun watching you have fun. After last night I was worried about you, you were so lost and confused after waking up from your nightmares, I didn't expect you to start feeling better this soon. So...yeah, I guess this was fun," she admitted.
Zoey reached over to lace her fingers through Aphrodite's.
"Congratulations, you've just discovered the true meaning of Christmas," she said teasingly. "Doing things for other people, and getting more joy out of making others happy than making yourself happy."
Aphrodite rolled her eyes.
"That is so cliché. I can't believe how sappy you manage to sound sometimes. Although...making you happy isn't something I mind very much," she said quietly.
Zoey leaned over and kissed Aphrodite on the cheek.
"What's really cliché is that I've had 'All I Want for Christmas is You' stuck in my head for the past hour," Zoey said with an embarrassed chuckle. "Now get comfortable. We've got a lot of Christmas movies to go through before next week."
She grabbed the remote and turned the tv back on, then scooted closer to Aphrodite and snuggled against her, getting nice and cozy as she laid her head on the blonde's shoulder.
"So is this what every December is going to be like for us? Haphazardly throwing lights and tinsel around the house while you force me into ridiculous outfits?" Aphrodite wondered.
"Sounds about right," Zoey nodded. "Everyone needs to have their own traditions and memories."
"...Good. I'm looking forward to it. And hopefully next year will have less vampyres and evil prophecies for us to worry about."
Zoey laughed.
"Yep, holidays with you are starting to sound like my new favorite thing...Merry Christmas, Vision Girl."
"Merry Christmas, Power Freak."
