I know its no even hallowen yet but that you for reading this. lots of light love and sweets your way.
"'Marina's well practised in The Silent ancient art of deep swimming really good, Barry'." Troy quoted disbelievingly, two days later at Stingray's controls.
"Troy, please?"
"like them pearl divers who can hold their breath for a real long time?"
"I panicked." Phones hissed. Even Marina looked at him appalled from her seat at the back of the bridge over the top of Barry's head. Possibly insulted at being likened to a pearl diver given their last fiasco with such treasure.
"I forgot we weren't telling him about the whole breathing underwater thing-."
"PHONES!"
Phones winced and looked apologetically at his friends. Barry thankfully had his face pressed up to the window and while momentarily distracted by Troy's tone, turned back to the view outside the sub just as quickly. He was out with them again for a quiet patrol at sea. not steering this time but knelt up on Stingray's bench, pointing out all the fish he could see outside.
In amongst the usual duties of the Wasps for everyone else, Barry's last two days at Marienville involved but was not limited too:
Sitting through Attempts to teach the lad how to play chess.
Playing in the snow again and another round of ice-skating.
Listening in awe to More of Troy and the Commander's stories.
Asking lots of questions.
Asking Marina lots of yes no questions (A lot about The Silent ancient art of deep swimming really good!).
Making popcorn and watching some terribly cheesy age appropriate Christmas films.
Being chased by Oink and giving the seal lots of pets and cuddles.
More playing in the snow.
Baking cookies with Atlanta and icing them, with lots in the box to take back to The Home with him.
Even more playing in the snow.
And Watching planes from the control tower.
Barry had also been drawing them all pictures in bright colours too that he'd given out that were instantly pinned up on fridge's, memo boards and the standby by lounge.
Then in the late afternoon, it was just a case of killing time with the crew and team in the Shore's front room while waiting for his ride. And to say goodbye…
Atlanta had blinked back tears twice that day already. A third time when Miss Gertrude arrived at the door to collect her charge, and presented Atlanta with some lovely flowers as a token for hosting Barry.
"Oh you shouldn't have!" Atlanta smiled. Marina was quick to find a vase and helped to get them in water; and surreptitiously passed a tissue to Atlanta for her mascara.
"Really, Barry was a joy to have."
"Yeah. He's a great kid." The commander muttered.
"I'm glad to hear. Barry said on the call he's enjoyed himself and had a lovely time." Miss Gertrude who wore her Glasses on a chain, was prim and trim figure in a tweedy suit, Rather than a WASP uniform.
But her smile was kind, her earrings big and her blazer had all sorts of rebellious pins and badges on it. Like someone's great aunt who'd gotten a very good position on the board of health but never let go of rock and roll. Troy for the life of him couldn't pinpoint her age. and her straight blonde hair was lilac and pink at the ends. Very irregular for regulation. No wonder Barry had just accepted Marina's hair as green!
"It was very kind of you to arrange the trip out here. He's always talking about the WASPs." Miss Gertrude continued. But Barry Tugged on her sleeve impatiently.
"Miss? Did you bring the thing, Miss?"
"It's on the back seat, dear." She said and smiled down at him. "Wrapped up like you asked."
"Thing?" Fisher asked.
But all Barry said was "I'll be right back-!"
And ran into the hallway.
"Let's get your luggage in the boot while we're at it." Troy offered, following him out. No sooner had he picked up the kid's little case and the hold all full of new toys, however, Barry had already put on his boots and shot down the ramp towards the car.
"Barry Be careful!" and "You need a coat on!" came twin calls from Atlanta and Miss Gertrude. The others watched from the window as, while Troy made his way at a more sedate pace with the bags; Barry paused, ran back and grabbed his coat Atlanta held out to him. and Miss Gertrude forced a bobble hat on his head as he went out the door again. He was still putting his coat on as he hurried back down the ramp. If he'd been running at full pelt he might have slammed into it. Barry yanked on the back-door handle, and bodily throwing himself across the seats, grabbed the 'thing'. he wiggled backwards Climbing back out of the car and was off back up towards the apartment before Troy had finished putting the bags away. Troy Closed the trunk, And the door Barry had left open. And followed eager to get out the cold.
Barry ran back into the lounge just as Troy caught up.
"HERE! Merry Christmas!" He panted. and Thrust the thing at the assembled Adults, right in front of Marina. The thing was Lumpy parcel, beautifully wrapped In cheap plain brown paper that someone had attempted to potato stamp little stars on very badly.
"Oh. Barry what's this? you know you didn't have to get us anything?" Atlanta said. Miss Gertrude only smiled knowingly.
"I wanted to! Well I didn't get it! Ms Gertrude did, really." Barry grinned. "And Actually, it's for you Marina."
Marina blinked surprised.
"Well it's for all of you. But it's Marina's. I'd like her to have it please."
"So that's what the odd video call was about!" Atlanta laughed, giving her father a squeeze on the shoulder.
"Yeah you got me." The Commander shrugged. "I've no idea what it actually is though. He just said it was a secret present for her then I left him to it."
"Maybe it's a model?" Atlanta wondered.
Marina nudged forward by her friends a little, looked from Barry to the parcel and back again. And asked,
"Secret Santa?"
Well she signed 'question quiet Santa Christmas'. They knew she meant "Secret Santa?"
"Sort of!" Barry smiled, pressing it into her hands. And he signed 'Present' too for good measure. "open it!"
Marina took it. Then Barry went all over all shy hiding at Miss Gertrude's hip. Marina smiled at him and said thank you. but looked from it to the other adults confused, holding it out to them too. The parcel rattled a little from the moment.
"He said all of us, but it's yours." Troy reminded her. "Guess it's a late Christmas present?"
"Go ahead and open it." Phones Encouraged.
Marina nodded and sat back down carefully, setting the parcel in her lap. Barry slipped himself in-between Troy and Atlanta again, taking their hands in his. Atlanta was momentarily distracted and looked down at him adoringly, then up to Troy with "aw isn't that precious?" sort of face. Troy smiled back but was more interested in the surprise. So was Barry. The captain could feel the lad practically vibrating with anticipation as Marina unwrapped it and peeled apart the paper.
In the unassuming parcel were two unassuming things:
A dollar store plastic twisty elasticated key chain, with a clip on the end. the sort you attach your keys or wallet to a belt loop with. except a small carabiner clip had been added to it.
And an opaque box with a red lid. The sort that were in a lot of offices as card holders or an index full of faded labels.
Marina looked up as puzzled as the rest of them.
"Open it!" Barry urged again beaming pulling off his coat. He was bouncing up and down on his toes now.
Marina nodded, fumbled until there was a satisfying click, and flipped open the lid. Marina looked in, but the puzzlement didn't clear. Instead she then turned the box around and showed them the contents. Inside there must have been dozen or so of bundles with elastic bands on.
"Surprise!" Barry grinned.
"What are they?" Atlanta asked. Marina shook her head unsure. She pulled out a bundle and held it out to Atlanta to inspect. Still baffled, (Reluctantly) she let go of Barry's hand to take the offered pack. And as Marina held another out for Phones to see and took one for herself, both undoing the elastic.
"Cards? Is it a game?" Troy said as a few fell to the floor. There must have been around a hundred cards in the box then. They were a bit bigger than a playing card, but about half the size than a postcard, if that. Some were thick cards like a baby's first book. Some laminated. And on each card-?
"Why, no they're flashcards." Atlanta realised aloud. "There's things written on them."
"Better than that! They're words. Word cards." Barry explained, pointing over her arm. On each card was indeed a word. Or a few words.
"I thought we still had Kit's old ones at the orphanage or at school!" Barry continued. "I asked Miss if Marina could have them. And to bring them today if that was possible."
"We bought brand new sets for the home at the start of term." Miss Gertrude said, nodded. "Barry remembered we had set the old ones aside during a clear out. The children like to play charades and matching games with them but we'd plenty of doubles to spare for them so I could make Marina up her own box. And I'd much rather they get some use a resource again rather than thrown away or just collecting dust."
"Resource?" Shore asked.
"Use?" Troy echoed.
"I'm not just a career at the children's home, sir." she explained. "I'm also the head of the disability and additional needs department at Barry's school."
"Yeah Troy! remember I said Kit was nonverbal?" Barry reminded him. And told them all about his old orphanage friend. "So he used stuff like this. and so does Chrissy, and so will Judal."
"And I thought you could use them, Marina!" he continued, turning to his new mer-friend. "So, you can talk to everyone more? And make them understand you. Even while everyone's still learning sign language and your radio codes."
Marina gaped, stunned. There was a pause as everyone caught up, clicked on or got Barry's drift.
Then Phones let out a whistle. "Well I'll be!"
"Gee Barry, that's a great idea!" Troy agreed. "A fantastic idea even"
"Why didn't we think of something like that before!" Fisher laughed.
"Yeah Why didn't any of you lot think of that before?" The Commander said.
"You didn't think of it either, father! Oh, Barry you clever thing, thank you for arranging this!" Atlanta laughed, bending down to give Barry a big squeezy hug. "That's very sweet of you! And kind. Don't you think so Marina?"
Marina clapped agreeing, and gave a hand flip thank you, once, twice even. A little hesitant maybe, perhaps not quite understanding the concept yet or overwhelmed at the attention and affection. But instead of the puzzled frown she was smiling. Barry grabbed Atlanta's hand again pulling her to Marina's other side on the couch, as Miss Gertrude explained more about the cards.
"There's some missing and fixed with tape." She added, apologetically. "And they'll need sorting. I'm afraid they're not in any order other than grouped into whatever set they were put away in."
Then said very quietly, so that only Troy who was stood next to her could hear:
"They might be a little babyish for the young lady. They are more for the classroom or nursery environment." She hissed. "Sorry, the way he spoke about her, I was under the impression Barry's new friend was about his age-!"
Marina however didn't seem to mind about the second-hand nature of the cards. Or if they were Childish or a little simplistic. She'd knelt at the coffee table; undoing all the elastics. Then started to spread them out on the table for them all to see and carefully pouring over them, her friends peering over her shoulder.
As Miss Gertrude had said, there was a very mismatched cobbled together feel to them. Some were well worn, some nearly new. Some Laminated. Stiff cards, others thick like baby books. Most just had one word. Some had full sentences or sentence starters.
Phones split his pack like he might a deck and examined the cards.
"Where is, how do I, what time," he read aloud, flicking through them.
"Hey look Phones. Those ones you got are double sided!" Fisher pointed out. "There's more on the back."
"Huh? Let's see, this one's "I want to" this side and "I need" on the other." Phones grinned. "Oh that's really handy you get two cards in one there? Space saving."
"Yeah! Some have pictures too, or picture one side and words on the other." Barry explained, pointing out the rough sets that were taking shape. "There's Food. Transport. Faces with feelings. Baby sign. The sea and fish, Animals."
"Oink's big brother." Troy interrupted, holding up one saying 'SEAL' that made Barry laugh and Marina laugh silently.
"Yeah! And look! These blues ones? This one's the WASP set we made. I helped do the pictures." Barry grinned, "Marienville And and Stingray! And there's some that are dry-wipe so you can make your own or add to them, Marina."
"And my favourite thing is this!" he continued. "I know you'll be too busy on missions to use the whole box, Marina but look! On the corner of each card? They all have holes in them so you can make a key chain of really important ones!"
Barry demonstrated, plucking a bunch of cards at random. with another fumble and satisfying click he threaded them onto the carabiner. Barry then clipped the springy key chain part to itself, then looping over once twice asked Marina to hold her hand out and he treaded it over her wrist. Marina swung her arm experimentally in one of her gestures, and the flash card Bounced happily on the cord with the frills of her sleeve. "Just remember to take them off before you go swimming!"
"Barry might only be a kid," Troy thought. "but he's got a good head on his shoulders. And a good heart too."
"You know buddy," he said, clapping the kid on the shoulder. "I think it is the best present Anyone could have given her. Right Marina?"
She Made the A-Okay dive sign. then rifled through the cards searching for ones she knew she'd seen a moment ago. And held them up at Barry.
One said "AMAZING".
The second said, Please. ''
Then Marina realised she had it the wrong way around and turned it over to say, "Thank you." Tapping it to emphasise her and signing Thanks too.
"I think she likes them." Phones chuckled. Marina agreed, holding up the first card again. Then Phones frowned. "Aw Marina -?"
Marina was blinking and wiped her face. But unlike Atlanta did, she wasn't able to blink back tears. They were happy tears though, a rare time the crew had seen them. She knelt and took Barry's hands squeezing them beaming at him. Barry opened his arms and offered to give her a hug. It wasn't normally Marina's style but she nodded and gave Barry A very big squeeze.
"Thank you, Barry. Happy holidays," she signed after he let her go.
"You're welcome! I'm real glad you like them. And that we got snow for your first one here too! That was great!" Barry grinned and added, signing as well. "Happy Christmas Marina."
Over his shoulder the team exchanged a look. Then Atlanta, phone and fisher, and Troy (with a little help) amended, signing to Marina "Happy First Christmas ever."
Everyone got at least one hug before Barry really did have to go. There were some very Bittersweet goodbyes and everyone Came outside to see him off. Atlanta got the last cuddle, squeezed in right before Barry climbed in the car door.
"Thanks for having me for the holidays." He'd whispered. For the fourth time that afternoon, Atlanta nearly started crying.
"Thank Troy for arranging it." she replied.
("wait what?" the commander said but was shushed.)
"Now you call me if you ever need anything? Ever, Barry." She said, letting him go. "You take care now alright?"
"I will." And with that Barry was leaving Marienville, literally riding off into the sunset as it started to get dark. They all waved him off. Fisher nearly got smacked by the flash cards still on Marina's wrist.
Barry didn't stop waving back till Miss Gertrude's car was out of sight. Troy fancied the kid would be swivelling about in his seat all the way along the main road, trying to keep the control tower in view for as long as possible.
"Now that was definitely the makings of a good Christmas film right?" Phones joked as they headed back inside. Atlanta lingered though, still watching the road and was last indoors.
"You okay honey?'' Troy asked , hanging up her coat. The others had headed back into the lounge but Atlanta Stood by the big front window.
"No.'' Atlanta Smiled with a sniffle. Wiping her cheeks. "I'm sorry Troy. I got used to Barry being with us. it's going to be rather quiet around here without him is all."
Troy gave her a moment. Then put Arm around her shoulders and Steered her into the warmth of her house.
"I'm gonna miss him is all." She said quietly.
"Yeah. I think we all will." Troy said, but offered her his handkerchief.
At the sound of laughter Atlanta paused, looking into the lounge through the partition. The commander, the other two lieutenants and marina were sitting around the coffee table Chatting and making conversation. Nonsense conversation mostly really, making a game of it with Marina racing to find the card to reply with. She looked so so happy, Judging by The happy little shimmy movement she did in her seat.
"I mean it, I think he gave marina the perfect thing for Christmas." Troy said softly. "He's a great kid."
"yeah. You're really good with him, you know, Troy." Atlanta said. then added, "Bar your choice of bedtime stories."
"hey I'm glad I did tell him a crazy made up one! if I hadn't I'd have missed a lot more then dinner." Troy insisted.
"oh I'm well aware. But I warned you that one with the pink ice would give him nightmares."Atlanta teased. Then Changed the subject.
"I'm glad Marina's first one was a success too. Thanks to Barry."
"And both of your girl's cooking." Troy insisted. "and seeing snow for the first time."
Marina, perhaps realising she was being talked about, glanced up and Waved. then searched for the right cards and Held up them up.
"Would you like..?" And then "Coffee." And a question sign along with their names.
"That would be lovely honey thank you." Atlanta smiled, coming into the lounge properly and sitting down. Troy joined her.
Marina headed to the shore's kitchen. Then ducked back to grab a handful of the cards. And then went to the kitchen, flipping through them.
"You know what, I'll go give her a hand." Phones said suddenly, following her.
"No it's alright I'll help." Fisher volunteered, rushing after them both.
"I can't imagine the coffee takes three of you to-." The commander started. Then realised he was left behind and this time none of his old boys were picking him up to go out to the mess.
"I've got to go- think I left something in...my office. No wait the kitchen." He excused. And swung his chair around after the others, leaving the now empty lounge. Empty save for Troy and Atlanta.
"Finally alone again." Atlanta smiled wryly.
"Yeah." Troy agreed, still not quite getting the hint. And even added, "is there something up in the kitchen?"
"No leave them too it." Atlanta chuckled.
"Well alright."
She shook her head, laughing softly and leaning against him. Troy pulled her closer still and Atlanta cuddled up next to him. Just content.
Then Atlanta sighed and said, "I hope Barry has just as nicer Christmas next year."
"I'm sure he will." Troy said softly. Then grinned, turning to her. "Reckon we can sweet talk your old man into him another visit before that though? He seems really taken with Barry too."
"You really think so?"
"Well, yeah? It worked this time and the commander enjoyed having Barry over, right?" Troy shrugged. Atlanta smiled so brightly at him, even brighter than the lights on the tree. And Troy forgot what else he was going to say.
"You say the sweetest thing sometimes Captain Tempest." Atlanta said. Troy had no idea what he'd said to get that reaction but smiled anyway. Atlanta was looking at his face like he was looking at hers. and then glanced up. "Oh, and Troy?"
"Y-yeah?"
"Mistletoe."
"What?" Troy looked up. And felt his cheeks suddenly go pink. Very pink. There was indeed a sprig of the stuff right above him hanging off one of the lampshades. Had that been there all the time? "Oh. Heh. So there is…"
"I guess Barry Was right." He grinned, leaning down; As Atlanta leant in and up to give a kiss on his cheek. "This-?"
He went to say more but couldn't. Or at least, not when Atlanta then turned her head just so and pressed a - no gifted him- a kiss on the lips that, sweet as it was, was a real zinger. And knocked him quite for six, rendering him speechless. Maybe he should have learnt more signs or borrowed Marina's flash cards! Only when the aqua naught came up for air again, did Troy finish his sentence.
"Wow. I mean, this really was a Christmas to remember huh?"