Merry Christmas
Chapter 7
Kate was tired. Dead tired as she reached her apartment. She was taking standard classes and extra classes. This school was teaching her things she knew nothing about. Names of things she had never heard of before. At first she had been so incredibly lost but she was now dedicated to reaching her goal. Maybe no man would want her but she was still going to be the first female heart surgeon.
She was starving but not in the mood to eat. And she had homework to finish. Then her device activated so she moved over to it to see who it was.
It was Alexis. "HI KATE!"
"Hi Alexis." Seeing Alexis being happy and all excited only reminded her just how tired she was.
"Daddy's coming to get you. We're going to eat dinner," Alexis said and smiled at her.
She was hungry but she didn't have time to eat. She barely had time to sleep. Then there was a knock on her door. She groaned and let her chin fall to her chest.
Kate shuffled over to the door and Rick was on the other side. He also saw Alexis on her device. "We'll be right there, Pumpkin." Rick watched her smile and then vanish as the device shut down.
"Ready to go?" Rick was ready.
"Do I have to? I still have homework." Kate didn't have time for this.
"Yes." Rick stepped in close and made it snow on both of them. Then Kate found herself just outside of a door. "This is a restaurant. We have a few. This one specializes in steak. You like steak, right?" Rick couldn't think of anyone that didn't like steaks.
"Yes." Kate inhaled deeply since she could already smell them. They both listened to her stomach rat her out as to just how hungry she was.
"Hi Kate!" Alexis was just inside and waiting for them.
He was Santa so they had a table waiting for him and in no time they had given their orders and were left to themselves.
"So when is Christmas?" Kate was so lost in her school work she had no idea what day or even month it was.
"It's November 17 so we're getting closer." Rick knew they were closer since his hot chocolate and cookie intake was going up.
"RICK!" It had happened right in front of her. Once second he was Rick and now he was... Well his hair was white and suddenly he had a beard and it was just as white.
"Daddy." Alexis played with her chin to give him a clue. She had seen this before.
Rick reached up to his chin and found the start of a really good beard. "Let me guess, it's white." Rick saw Alexis grinning.
"It just suddenly happened." Kate still wasn't sure she believed it.
"Want to tug on my beard to see if it's real?" Rick challenged her since she still wasn't totally onboard with him being the real Santa.
"No!" Kate had no intention of tugging on his beard no matter how white it got.
"How about you, Pumpkin?" Rick leaned toward her so she could reach up and tug on his beard. Rick let out a huff as she yanked a little too hard.
"So how is school?" Rick asked her.
"How do you people know so much?" She was learning things she didn't even know existed.
"You forget just how long we've been here. Besides, they're elves. They aren't just good at making toys. They built all these buildings. They built the globe that surrounds us. They do all the farming and everything else. How do you think we get our steaks?" Rick questioned her.
"I hadn't thought about that." Kate was still learning things. Then she leaned in closer. "How old are they?" She meant the elves.
Rick looked around. "NICK! How old are you now?" Rick yelled.
"One hundred and eighty six as of–" He counted using his fingers, "twelve days ago. Love the beard, Santa." He like everyone else liked it when he looked more like Santa.
"Thanks!" Rick stroked his beard.
"One hundred and eighty?" Kate wasn't sure she believed it. No one lived that long.
"And six," Rick added. "Sophie?" He saw someone even older. "Never mind, Sophie, sorry." He leaned closer to Kate. "Never ask a woman her age." He winked at her and she could almost swear she saw a twinkle in his eye.
"I'm two hundred and two years young and getting even younger, Santa," Sophie yelled.
"You were never young, Sophie," someone yelled.
"Watch it!" Sophie yelled back.
Rick began to laugh when suddenly it turned into a HO, HO, HO!
Rick put his hand over his mouth. "Oops." It had just come out. He hadn't meant to.
It did get Alexis to start laughing. "Daddy is Santa." Alexis was still sure she was the luckiest kid alive. There was only one Santa and that was her daddy.
"Have you written a letter to Santa, Kate?" Alexis had written hers and had hand delivered it to Lucy.
"No." She hadn't written to Santa since she was three years old.
"Santa won't leave you a present," Alexis warned her.
Kate knew she was on the naughty list so she wasn't getting a present from him anyway. Besides Santa didn't exist.
"Kate still doesn't believe in Santa," Rick informed Alexis.
"KATE!?" Alexis didn't understand. It was obvious that her daddy was Santa.
"Give her a chance, Pumpkin, she'll come around." Rick still had faith that she would come around to his way of thinking. "Ooo, steaks." Their waitress arrived with steaks and a burger for Alexis.
oOo
Rick knew Alexis knew the way home so he made it snow and Kate found herself in front of her apartment door. "I still don't know how you do that." The transit wall was hard enough to understand. This was even harder.
Rick leaned in close and whispered, "I'm Santa." He made it snow and he was gone.
"Right!" Kate wasn't buying it yet. But she wasn't hungry any longer and that steak had been amazing. She was going to have to get him to take her there again. "WAS THAT A DATE!?" Kate was testing him since if he was Santa he should be able to hear her.
Kate didn't hear anything so she went inside and saw her device was active and Rick was on the screen. The new Rick with white hair and a white beard.
"No, you're sixteen years old and underage. I'm not going to prison even for you." Then the device turned off and he was gone. Kate stood there and began laughing.
"What if I like older men with white hair and a white beard?" Kate called out and waited but got nothing. "Coward!" Kate yelled and saw the device come back on and there was Rick.
"Naughty list," Rick reminded her and the device turned off.
"I WAS TEASING!" Kate yelled. "I think." She added the latter softly, maybe soft enough that he didn't hear her. She still had homework to finish and could maybe get a couple of hours of sleep.
oOo
Rick was trapped with the naughty and nice list yet again. "Daddy?" Alexis was here.
"What's up, Pumpkin?" Rick dropped his list since he could use a break. The names were starting to stack onto other names and it was all just one big pain.
Alexis didn't answer him. "Come over here, Pumpkin." Rick waited for her and lifted her up onto his lap.
"Does Kate have to leave, Daddy?" Alexis really wanted Kate to stay.
This was the day he had been dreading. Alexis was attached to Kate.
"I'm afraid so. Her parents sent me a Dear Santa letter asking for Kate to come home. I don't have a choice. She has to leave and go home to her parents. It was all they asked for, for Christmas. To give her parents their wish I have to take Kate home." He knew she had to go.
He was still a little worried about what she was learning about here the longer she stayed and learned more and more. Who she told and what they did about it. They didn't yet have the technology to find them, but someday they might. Especially if Kate blabbed and it got recorded.
Alexis leaned back into her dad and let him hold her. "Kate is only sixteen years old." That was the primary problem that he couldn't get around.
"That's old," Alexis told him.
"Unfortunately it isn't old enough. How was school?" Her school was let out early at her age.
"Nice." Rick heard that. She usually always said great! It mean she was still stuck on Kate going away.
"How about if we go see reindeer and go flying?" Rick offered hoping that would cheer her up.
"Okay," Alexis answered softly. That wasn't the reaction Rick was hoping for. At least she did get down and beat him there. She was smiling when they were done flying on reindeer. And it gave her and Rick a chance to take a nice long look at Comet 10 who was growing up fast.
oOo
Kate hadn't seen Rick or Alexis in days. Mostly thanks to her classes. She was still soaking up all she could get them to teach her. Some of the tools they used she had never even heard of, let alone used.
One of her teachers, since she had more than one, had told her to go home and get some rest before she burned herself out. That she wasn't going to remember if she was too tired.
It was a really tired Kate that stripped and got ready for bed after taking a transit wall and walking around the hospital to reach her apartment. She was even wearing out a path to get to it.
What Kate didn't see because she was asleep was that she was moving around in bed. Her legs were kicking. She slapped her hands down onto the mattress and grasped the sheets. She was also kissing the air.
Then suddenly she woke up and shot up straight. She was breathing heavy and she was sweaty. She still remembered her dream. It was fresh in her mind but fading fast.
She had been making love to Rick. Then suddenly she was making love to a fat Santa.
Kate used her hand to check and found that the panties she had worn to bed were wet. Right where they were supposed to be wet when someone made love to you. And she didn't mean rape like those guys had done. She knew she had done it willingly.
Since getting back to sleep was going to be impossible she got up. In so doing she found that the sheets were wet. Like really wet. "OH GOD!" She was thinking that in her sleep she had peed. That had never happened before. But then dreams like that one hadn't happened before either.
Kate had her wet sheets piled up at the door and had gotten out new ones and put them on the bed. She knew while she was in school someone came to clean her apartment. She always had fresh sheets each and every day. She didn't know who or how but her place was always clean.
School was in a couple of hours. Thanks to her dream that was mostly gone now save that she knew what she had done, just not exactly what she had done, she was short on sleep. She made herself breakfast, took a shower, and got ready for school.
oOo
Kate had had another long day. She was tired and wasn't interested in cooking and was wondering if she could figure out how to reach the cafeteria since she had been told it was always open. Twenty-four hours a day in fact. It was just that she had never gone there on her own.
Then there was a knock on her door that had her opening it. "Rick!" He looked the same as ever. White hair, white beard. Though maybe both were a touch longer now.
"I came to take you to dinner. It's a special day, we wouldn't want to miss it." Rick was all smiles since he had a secret.
"It is?" Kate couldn't think of anything that would make today special.
"Shall we go?" Rick stuck out his elbow for her to put her arm through and hold onto him. Kate smiled and did just that then closed the door behind her.
"Where are we going this time?" She had thought she had eaten almost everywhere by now. They even had a Chinese restaurant that she loved. She knew how to use the transit wall to reach that one but not anyplace else except for school and the hospital since her apartment was there.
"You'll see." Rick was keeping his secret.
Kate went through the transit wall with him and found herself out front of the cafeteria. She had eaten here a lot so it wasn't anything special.
Rick opened the door for her and let her go first. "Thank you." Kate walked inside and stopped dead in her tracks.
This room like everywhere else screamed Christmas. Now it was filled with balloons. They were everywhere. On the tables, on the floor, trapped at the ceiling. Looking up was when she spotted it.
There was a banner across the entire width of the space.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE
She didn't even know it was her birthday. She had been so lost in her school work she hadn't even tried to keep track of what day it was. Then suddenly every elf in the place, and there had to be hundreds of them, started singing after someone blew a tone whistle.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR KATE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"
Kate had her hands over her mouth and had began crying. No one, literally no one, not even her parents had done anything like this for her before.
She was still crying. "How did you know?" Kate said through her fingers.
"I'm Santa. I know everyone's birthday. Even yours." When was she going to get that through that thick head of hers? "This is for you." Rick spread his arms wide.
oOo
She still had tears in her eyes as she walked past a lot of elves that all said Happy Birthday to her till she reached the trays, plates, and silverware.
There was no one in front of her and Rick was right behind her. "I'll take—"
"We have something special for you." He turned his back on her, retrieved something, and placed it on her plate.
It was a large bowl of noodles. Just one long continuous bowl of noodle. Into it they had stuck candles that were lit and spelled out Happy Birthday.
"Thank you!" Kate's voice was cracking as new tears started falling.
"Wait!" She was taking her plate back. He added a bowl of seasoned strips of steak to her plate. The next station was vegetables to add to her bowl of noodle, then fruit, and finally desert.
Kate was given a large cupcake. It said 17 on top with a single lit candle in the middle. Then drinks.
Turning around she found a line of elves on either side forming a tunnel that she was going to have to go through to reach a table so she could eat.
As she passed each of them, they all told her happy birthday. Kate wasn't sure she was going to make it to any table. She could barely see where she was going thanks to all the tears and she had to use both hands to hold her tray so she couldn't wipe them away.
She finally reached the end which actually was formed more like a snake since she had to keep turning left or right. Finally she reached a table that had a wrapped present sitting on it. It had Christmas written all over it, but it also had a happy birthday sign on it.
oOo
Kate was still amazed that her noodle just kept going on forever. It wasn't a lot of noodles, it was one noodle.
"A representative of longevity, certain noodles are meant specifically for birthdays," Rick explained.
"And how do you know that?" Kate inquired. This was the North Pole, not China.
"When are you going to learn? I'm Santa." He was starting to wonder if she was ever going to learn.
Kate had heard a lot of Happy Birthday as each elf passed her on their way out.
"Open your present. …Oh, read the card first." Rick told her after she was done eating and finished with her birthday cake and had blown out all the candles.
Kate picked up the card first, opened it, and read it to herself. New tears started forming in her eyes. Kate looked at him. She loved him, she knew she loved him.
"Open it." He really wanted her to see her present.
The box wasn't all that big. In fact the card was several times bigger than the box. In fact just looking at the box had her heart beating at a new impossible speed. It was the perfect size for something and suddenly she really wished that it was.
She didn't want to go home any longer. She wanted to stay here. Forever.
Trembling hands got the paper off and sure enough it was that box inside the paper. "Rick!?" She couldn't open it. She so badly wanted what was inside it but she couldn't open it.
"Open it." It wasn't that scary. At least not to him. "Women!" He was never going to understand women. So he opened the box for her.
What was inside wasn't what Kate was hoping for. It wasn't an engagement ring. Rick wasn't proposing because she was ready to say yes. Instead it looked kind of like a watch.
"This is a communication watch. You can use it to talk to me, Alexis, Lucy, Frederick, Victor, or even Prancer any time you wish. Pretty much anyone here whenever you wish," Rick explained. He took it out of the box and put it in her hand for her.
But he didn't really let go. "Once you put this on, it is never, ever, going to come off again. It will attach itself to you. If you get your hand cut off it will turn to dust. It was a security feature." That was allowing him to bend the rules by giving her this thing.
"So long as you live it will work for you and only you," Rick told her.
Kate didn't waste a second. She put it on and watched but didn't really feel it almost disappear into her arm. She loved him! She really, really loved him. "Where's Alexis?" She hadn't seen her yet.
"Here." A soft voice answered behind her which had Kate spinning to find Alexis all dressed up and looking amazing. She was also standing there with tears flowing down her cheeks.
Alexis didn't wait for an invitation she wrapped herself around Kate and started crying. Which in turn had Kate crying. This day was turning out to be the most perfect birthday she could have ever wanted.
oOo
Kate walked into school with her new watch and her new life. She just had to figure out how to get Rick to let her stay. "Rick! …Rick?" When he turned around she wasn't so sure any longer. His beard was longer, his hair was longer, his face was fatter and he was simply fatter everywhere.
"HO, HO, HO." Kate wasn't sure but she could swear his entire body, well, jiggled or something.
Kate walked closer but not too close. "You are Rick. Right?"
"No, I'm Santa." Kate watched him put his hands on his belly and chuckle and once again he seemed to jiggle.
"Right." She was willing to grant him that he certainly did look like a Santa. Then she leaned back a touch when he stepped in closer and leaned toward her.
"My transformation is almost complete," he whispered.
"Almost?" He looked like the most picture perfect Santa she had ever thought of.
"Is the tip of my nose red? Am I wearing reading glasses?" he whispered again.
Kate actually looked at his nose. "No."
"See, almost complete. It's almost Christmas," Rick explained.
"Why are you here?" He had never come to her school before. Alexis was in a different building for her school.
"I needed to talk to your teachers before class. Thank you for the information. I have to go. Lots to do still." Rick made it snow on him and he was gone.
"What did you tell him?" Kate questioned her teacher that was standing there as she glared at him.
"Santa wanted an update on how you were doing in class. Shall we get started? Don't want to be late." He walked to his classroom and left Kate standing there wondering what else he had asked about.
oOo
Kate had used her new watch and was meeting Lucy at the Christmas tree in the center of town. She knew how to reach it even if it did require some extra walking.
Kate saw Lucy sitting on a bench waiting for her so Kate sat down next to her. "Can we talk?" Kate had long since learned Lucy knew everything. Maybe even more than Rick did.
"Of course, what do you want to talk about?" Lucy was hoping it had something to do with Santa. She knew about the watch she was wearing. She would do just about anything to get her plan to work. For both of them.
"Santa," Kate told her. She wanted to talk about Santa.