Chapter 20- Chanukah Preparations
The incident when Amanda blacked out passed and was soon forgotten and Christmas and Chanukah was just around the corner. Amanda stood in the kitchen on the third of December, getting ready to slice the potatoes for latkes with Naomi. "You know, you don't have to help me, Sarah. me and Abba would understand if you don't want to celebrate this year," Naomi said.
"No. I want to, Ima. I have been celebrating the holiday every year. Just because I'm not Sarah Nicholls but Amanda Xavier, why should that change what I've always done?" Amanda said as she finished slicing her last potato and throwing them in a pot of water to soften them.
"Good point. That's what your Abba said and the professor backed it," Naomi said as Amanda added a little salt to the water.
"So, did Abba go buy the jelly doughnuts?" Amanda asked, changing the subject. Amanda didn't spend as much time with Jackson and Naomi as she used to as she didn't want to hurt Charles and Moira's feelings by hanging out with Jackson and Naomi. Charles hadn't really said that she couldn't, but it was kind of implied that she shouldn't as Jackson wasn't really her father and Naomi wasn't her mother. She saw Jackson only when she had to go to the infirmary and she saw Naomi only when she had to come to the kitchen.
"Of course he did. Three kinds is all the doughnut place had; raspberry, strawberry, and lemon. We know how much you love strawberry," Naomi said as Moira and Raven came into the kitchen.
"You like strawberries?" Raven asked. Raven was in her blue form today.
"Yeah. Strawberry anything. Ima said that Abba went to the doughnut shop and bought three kinds of jelly doughnuts for Chanukah. I'm not a huge fan of lemon, but raspberry and strawberry are okay. I'll just let Ima and Abba have at the lemon as much as they want," Amanda said.
"Your father likes strawberry jelly doughnuts too. You used to eat strawberry doughnuts with him when you were little. You'd crawl on his lap and you'd both get jelly on your faces," Moira said dryly.
"Yeah, we didn't know who was the bigger child; you or Charles," Raven said.
"Charles," Moira teased and the four of them smiled.
"I think that about Jack too. Especially at this time of year. Chanukah turns him into the biggest child I know. He pigs out on the latkes and doughnuts and acts like a five-year-old in a candy shop with the Hora and the dreidel game. The only time he is serious is when we light the menorah and he says the prayers over the candles," Naomi said as the potato pot boiled and Amanda took the pot off the heat and put it over the colander.
Amanda carefully dressed in one of her finest dresses. Chanukah started at sundown and as soon as she slipped on her flats, it was time to enter the large dining room. Charles, Moira, and David were going to be there along with the school. Amanda had even invited Erik. He had said he missed observing the holiday along with other Jewish holy days. Amanda picked up the presents she had bought for Jackson and Naomi and left the room.
A/N: Short, I know, but severe writer's block. I have an idea of what I want, but not really a good clue of how to get there. I want to bring Stryker back into this as he's the thorn-in-the-side in this story. The idea is that Amanda gets kidnapped by him again, but figuring out how is the conundrum.