Christmas in Blüdhaven: Bells Ringing
by Smitty
"What are you watching?" Tim asked, approaching the television. There were cookies and Kon hadn't made them. That was reason enough to be social, he told himself. He hitched a leg up on the couch next to Cassandra and leaned toward the coffee table to swipe a Dick-baked snickerdoodle. The outside was crisp and the inside was soft and melted on his tongue. It wasn't quite Alfred's perfect recipe -- Dick had overdone the cinnamon by a bit -- but it was absolutely the second-best cookie Tim had ever tasted.
"It's a Wonderful Life," Kon explained. "Cass has never seen it before."
"Never?" Tim asked her.
"Never!"
Tim smiled at her confidence in using the word and settled back against the arm of the sofa to watch the movie.
He made it to the halfway point, to where Jimmy Stewart came home and picked up his child and sobbed about his failure in life. Something welled up inside him, something dangerously close to breaking him, and he bolted. The Robin suit wasn't easy to put on, but he was practiced at it and he was half-dressed before Dick knocked on the door.
Before he could knock again, Tim was gone.
Author's Note: Christmas in Blüdhaven is written in the same general style as Jingle Bells, my attempt to write 24 200-word ficlets--one per day until Christmas, sort of like an Advent calendar--with characters from around the DCU. Christmas in Blüdhaven differs, however, by each of the ficlets being loosely linked and progressing toward a greater conclusion. The title was derived from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas in Sarajevo" because everything and everyone in Blüdhaven is currently something of a wreck.