It had been a standing tradition in his household to decorate the tree on Christmas Eve when he was growing up, and one that he insisted on keeping when he married Marti so many years ago. Dubenko was in the garage on a stepladder handing boxes of decorations to his daughter when the doorbell rang.
"Sophie, will you get that? It's probably Allie." He was attempting to grab a box that was just out of his reach, and he mentally cursed his small stature for the umpteenth time that evening.
"Yeah, or it's Santa's motley crew of angry elves come to demand cookies and milk." She carried a stack of boxes into the house with her and set them near the large evergreen that dominated one side of the living room.
The doorbell sounded again as Sophie was reaching for the deadbolt. "Holy hell, give me a minute, will you?" She yanked open the door and gave Allison a weak smile. "Oh, hi. Papa's in the garage."
"Were you expecting someone else?" Allie had her arms full of packages wrapped in colorful paper.
"Depends. Are any of these for me?" She helped the redhead out and took a few boxes from her.
"Maybe." She sat the packages on the sofa and turned to study the bare tree. "I can't believe you guys haven't decorated that thing yet. Poor naked Christmas tree. Ours has been up since the day after Thanksgiving."
Dubenko had come into the room with the last of the decorations and grinned. "That's because you cheat and put up a fake tree. Completely sacrilegious, Chapman. Shame on you."
"Hey, my roommate is allergic to pine. Besides, it's so pretty and festive. And there's no sap oozing all over the place or needles falling out constantly." As she spoke she maneuvered around the boxes and gave Lee a kiss. "Merry Christmas, handsome man."
"Oh, barf."
"Sophia, shut up."
"Merry Christmas to you too, Papa."
"So, um, where do you plan to start with decorating this tree? It's huge." Allison was trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. The relationship between the three of them was tenuous at best.
Dubenko squeezed Allie's shoulder, letting her know that he appreciated her efforts at distracting his argumentative daughter. "Lights go on first." He looked down at the box tucked under his arm and screwed up his face for a moment before handing the box to Sophie. "Actually, first, Sophie gets to untangle the lights. Chapman, why don't you come into the kitchen with me, there's some cookie dough that needs to be baked."
Sophia shot her father a dirty look as she dropped to the floor with the box filled with tangled lights. "I wasn't even here last year, why should I have to untangle the mess you made?"
Her father wisely ignored her and, taking Allison's hand, led her into the kitchen where true to his word there was a large bowl of cookie dough resting on the counter and several baking sheets lined with wax paper.
"You know, Lee, I told you a while ago that I wasn't much of a cook. I'm even worse when it comes to baking." She watched as he pulled an apron over the top of his dark wool turtleneck and tied the loose strings behind his back.
"Hmm? Oh, I wasn't going to make you do this, Allie. I just wanted some company." He gave her a smile as he took a lump of dough and began rolling it flat on a floured section of the counter. "However, if you'd like to help decorate…"
Allison had already started to dig into a bag of holiday colored M&Ms as Lee was talking to her. "Only if you don't mind mutant gingerbread men. I am so not the artiste."
"And you think I am?" He laughed as he handed her a cookie cutter. "Here, just start laying them out on the wax paper. I'll be right back."
Dubenko disappeared into the hall before she could respond and headed upstairs. Allison looked at the flat dough and the cookie cutter in her hand for a moment before shrugging and pressing the metal into the giving substance. She was carefully peeling each of the little men out of the dough and laying them in neat lines when he came back into the kitchen.
"Close your eyes, Allie." His voice was soft and warm as he spoke into her ear.
She felt his arms come around her body and she instinctively leaned back into his embrace. There was a rustle of paper and she felt the gentle pressure of his lips on the nape of her neck as he planted a light kiss on her sensitive skin.
"Merry Christmas, sweetheart." He squeezed her tightly.
"Lee? I thought we were going to exchange gifts after we finished the tree and had dinner." She looked at the small square box he was holding up in front of her.
"We are, but I wanted to give you this while we were alone. It might not go over too well with the Sophie monster." He rested his chin on her shoulder and swayed back and forth slightly. "Open it." He sounded like an excited child who was overly proud of his accomplishments.
Allison's mind raced as she pondered what could be in the package. It was a fair sized container and as she unwrapped it she saw the telltale blue of a Tiffany's box. "Lee—"
"Just open it, Chapman." He kissed her neck again.
Doing as he requested, she lifted the lid and pulled aside the layers of tissue paper. In the bottom of the box was a silver key fob with her initials engraved on it. Attached to the ring was a small brass house key. Allison picked up the weighted metal object and felt how heavy it was. Surprised, she turned and looked at Dubenko.
"Lee…it's lovely. But I don't understand—" She gave him a confused look.
"It's a key to the house, Allison. You spend so much time here that I figured you'd like to be able to come and go as you please. But, um, there's something else in there as well." Dubenko took the box from her and removed the remaining paper. With his nimble fingers he withdrew a delicate gold chain and held it before his girlfriend. Dangling from the center was a pendant with unidentifiable markings on it.
"I saw this and thought of you, Milaya moya." He studied her face intently for a moment before moving behind her. "Pull your hair up for a moment, Chapman." He worked the clasp on the necklace and fastened it around her neck. Dubenko then took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. He straightened the necklace so that it lay properly around her throat, the pendant dipping down into the open neck of her blouse. "I hope you like it."
"It's beautiful, Lee, but what does it say?" She was fingering the pendant and running her fingers over the odd characters.
"It's your name, Allie. In Russian."
"I don't know what to say, Lee. Thank you. I'm just…wow. Thank you." She was smiling at him, thinking just how lucky she was to have someone so thoughtful and sweet in her life. "I, um, take it that it's the house keys you don't want her to know about?"
He nodded before pulling her against him for a brief kiss. "She's finally acting civil around you for a change, I'd rather not tempt fate."
"Hey, love birds? We going to decorate this tree or not? And stop with the kissy face, I thought there were cookies being baked in here. Really, must I do everything myself?" Sophie was standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips. She was grinning at her father as she teased, "Unless there happens to be mistletoe hanging from the ceiling in your vicinity, I don't want to see any more smooching."
Dubenko looked at his daughter for a long moment then turned back to the girl in his arms. "She doesn't want us to kiss anymore, Allie."
"So I heard." Allie patted his cheek in sympathy.
"Oh wait, my house. My rules." Dubenko grinned and bent Allison backwards over his arm, kissing her deeply.
"You suck." Sophie elbowed passed the two and picked up a tray of cookies. "Mind moving so that I can bake these little guys?"
After Sophie managed to get the trays of cookies into the warmed oven and Dubenko managed to steal a few more kisses, the trio made their way into the living room. Sophie had managed to untangle the numerous strands of lights and had plugged them in to check for burned out bulbs. The miniature beams of multi colored light gave the room a warm glow. His daughter had also put some Christmas music on the stereo. The deep voice of Johnny Mathis belted out old holiday standards as Dubenko began sorting through boxes of ornaments and garland.
Watching her father become lost in his task, and memories of past Christmases, Sophie winked at Allison and picked up a long strand of lights. Stooping to kiss the top of her father's head she also began winding the lights around his legs as he sat sprawled on the thick carpet.
"What are you doing, Sophie monster?" he asked without looking up from the ornaments he was currently placing on little metal hooks.
"Oh, nothing much, Papa. Just making things a little more festive." She snorted as Allie dumped a tangle of garland over his head. "Hmm, now all he needs are a few ornaments."
"How about these?" Allie giggled as she took the ornaments out of Lee's hands and stuck hooks through his sweater. "Doesn't he look cute?"
"Adorable." Sophie nodded in agreement.
"Absurd." Dubenko frowned.
"Oh hush Papa, don't be a Grinch. Now where did I put the camera?"
"Sophia…no." He tried to protest.
"Oh yes, definitely a picture." Allison smirked.
"Whose side are you on Chapman?" Dubenko pouted at her.
"Whichever side is going to get me a picture of you looking like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree."
"Say 'Mistletoe' Papa!" Sophie laughed as the camera flash went off.
After vowing to get his revenge, Dubenko helped his tormenters decorate the tree while they snacked on fresh from the oven cookies, thoughts of dinner completely forgotten. Once his daughter disappeared into the depths of the hall closet, where she had stored presents that she had earlier wrapped, Lee went to his roll-top desk and withdrew a leather portfolio. He sat it on the coffee table before joining Allison on the sofa.
The redhead picked up a floppy felt Santa hat and plopped it on the doctor's head as he slipped an arm around her shoulders. "Who knew Santa could be sexy?" She teased.
"Chapman, you are seriously warped."
"I'm in love with you, aren't I?" She grinned.
Dubenko just stared at her, at a complete loss for words. In love with me? She's in love with me. When did this happen? Does it matter? Oh for God's sake, stop staring at the woman and say something, Lee. Anything. "Thank you." He continued to stare as his mind raced. Thank you? Thank you…is that the best you can do, moron? "Allie, I, um, I don't…" He trailed off as her smile melted slowly and she looked away.
"You're welcome, Lee." Her soft voice was barely audible over the music pouring from the living room stereo. Allison stood and walked over to the fireplace. Crossing her arms over her chest she studied the photographs resting on the mantle. Tears stung the backs of her eyes as she furiously blinked. She refused to cry. She would not cry. Not here, not now. She had been so sure of his feelings for her just moments ago, had thought that his gift meant something more than it obviously did. Allison had been wanting to say those words to Lee for some time now, wanted him to know what he meant to her and now, suddenly she felt like she'd made a mistake. He didn't love her. He. Didn't. Love. Her.
Dubenko went into the kitchen, saying that he was going to put on some coffee. Allison nodded distractedly as he walked past her.
No longer sure why she was there, Allison tried to think of a reason to leave. And do what? Go home and sit in an empty apartment on Christmas Eve? Joey and Andy are at his place and they don't want a third wheel interrupting them. Going in to work is out of the question. Do you really want the nerd herd to know what a pathetic loser you are? Stay. Maybe if you are really lucky Sophia will take a few more pot shots at you. Sighing, she picked up a photograph of Lee and Marti. She was balanced on his knee and his chin was resting on her shoulder. They looked happy, no, she looked happy…he looked completely in love.
"Allie?" Sophie had come back to the living room andwas placing gifts under the tree. "What are you looking at?" The younger, shorter girl came up behind her and looked over her shoulder.
"That's a great picture of them." Sophie laughed softly. "Mostly because after I took it, Papa straightened out his leg and Mom fell on her butt."
Allison couldn't help but smile at that. "They look so happy."
"Allie, they were. You know, I thought they'd be together forever. Growing up it never even occurred to me that a lot of marriages weren't happily ever after." Sophie took the picture from Allison and put it back up on the mantle. "He doesn't talk about her, does he?"
Allison shook her head. "I asked what she was like once, but he changed the subject."
"Typical Lee Dubenko avoidance behavior. Get used to it. And learn to bully it out of him if you plan on sticking around. He'll make you crazy otherwise."
"I'm not really sure he wants me to stick around." She was looking at the brickwork as she spoke.
"Are you kidding me, Chapman? I thought you were actually smart. He's nuts about you. Papa wouldn't threaten to kick my ass to the curb for just anyone." Sophie didn't really like admitting she was wrong, nor did she do apologies well. She hoped that Allison would see this conversation as just that. An apology, the only kind she would ever give.
"He what?" The redhead's eyes snapped up to meet Sophie's bright gaze.
"He told me to go back to Richmond a few days after I got here if I couldn't make nicey nice with his girlfriend." Sophie bit her lip and then continued. "You know, that's the first time in six years he's said that word. Girlfriend. Actually I think this is the only real relationship he's had since my mother was killed. You make him happy." With that the teenager walked out of the room to find her father.
Allie quirked her eyebrows and tried to process what had just happened. Sophia Dubenko had not only willingly spoken to her, but there were no insults or innuendo involved. The girl had actually been kind to her. As for what the girl had actually said, Allison wasn't sure what to make of it all. Lee referred to her as his girlfriend. She smiled at that. She'd think about the rest of Sophia's words later; right now she just wanted to join the Dubenkos in the kitchen.
It was nearly midnight when they finally settled back into the living room to exchange gifts. Sophie was wearing the Santa hat and singing along with The Chipmunks on the stereo. Loudly and off key until Dubenko asked Allie to hold her down so that he could suture her mouth shut.
"But I still want a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuula hoop!" She grinned as she scrambled across the floor away from her would be assailants.
"Sophia Marie, if you do not stop that incessant screeching the only thing you are going to get is my foot in your rear end." Dubenko threatened, only half jokingly.
She finished singing along with the CD at top volume before giving her father a cheeky grin. "Here is my ass, you may now kick it into next week." She wiggled her butt at them as she pulled a present out from under the tree.
Dubenko chuckled and planted his sock covered foot on her backside. "Don't tempt me."
"I won't give you any presents if you do." Sophie was pulling packages out from under the tree and checking the tags. "Here Allie, Merry Christmas." She handed a present to her father's girlfriend. "The tag says that it's from Lee, but I think he meant to write 'Grinning Goober' on it." She smirked at her father.
Allison laughed as she opened the package. Lee had given her a book on the history of medieval weaponry. Sophie looked at the two and shook her head before proclaiming them both to be completely weird.
A few more gifts were exchanged, most of them small and somewhat amusing to the parties involved. As Sophie was unwrapping a chocolate orange and wondering if it was really wise to eat such a thing given the hour, Lee picked up the leather portfolio he had earlier placed on the coffee table.
"Sophia?" He held the object out to his daughter as she looked at him strangely. "I've been meaning to do this for some time and well, now seemed like as good a moment as any."
She took the folio and sat it in her lap, "Mmm thanks."
"Open it, you imp." He took the chocolate ball away from her and set it aside.
"Hey I was going to eat that!" However, she did as her father instructed and opened the leather case. Inside was a stack of notarized papers, including the deed to the house in Richmond. "Oh, Papa…are you serious?" She looked up from her spot on the floor; sitting in the sea of discarded wrapping paper she looked much younger than her nearly twenty years.
"Of course I am, baby. The house is paid for and since I had no intention of ever selling it, I thought, well…it's yours, Soph. You've lived there your entire life, and now with me living here in Chicago it just makes me feel better knowing that there's one less thing for me to worry about where you are concerned. Merry Christmas, baby."
Dubenko got up from his seat next to Allie and gave his daughter a warm hug. "I love you, Soph."
"I love you too, Papa…I…I don't know what to say. Wow. I'm, oh Papa, thank you." It wasn't often that the teenager was at a loss for words, and she didn't know how to react to being so inarticulate, so she simply hugged her father again.
"Someone call Guinness, Sophia Dubenko is speechless." Dubenko ruffled her hair before rejoining Allie on the couch.
"Oh hey, Allie, there's another one for you." Sophie handed the redhead a giftbag.
Allison looked at the tag and saw that it was from the younger Dubenko. "Thank you…Oh! I love this stuff!" Allison pulled out several bottles of bath product ranging from body spray to lotion, all jasmine scented. She sprayed her forearm liberally with the perfume and waved it under Lee's nose. "Smell. Isn't it pretty?"
Lee glared at Sophie as he held his breath, trying not to gag. He was allergic to the plant and it gave him hives, even in a diluted form. "Ah Allie, don't…" He moved away from her as she poured the lotion on her hands and rubbed it in.
"Come here, I have too much of this stuff on my hands." She ran her palms over Lee's cheeks as she spoke.
"Oh shit, Papa! I'm sorry. I really am. I forgot…I bought that when I first got here and oh, geez…Allie, he's allergic to that stuff." Sophia looked horrified as Lee got up and went to wash his face, his eyes already watering and red welts appearing on his skin.
It was no secret that Sophia had completely despised Allison from the word go and the girl had childishly and purposely bought the lab tech the jasmine scented gift to get back at her father. She had also just as childishly forgotten what she put in the gift bag several weeks ago and didn't remember until it was too late to stop Allison from opening it.
Allison didn't know whether to laugh at Dubenko's daughter or strangle her. Instead she followed Lee into the downstairs bathroom. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."
He sneezed and then looked at her, as he toweled off his face and hands. "Chapman, get away from me. Please."
"Lee?"
"Until you wash that crud off, don't touch me." He was scratching at his neck. "I'm going to beat her."
"Lee, I didn't--"
"Will you go take a shower, Chapman? You're killing me."
"You shouldn't scratch at that…"
"Thank you, Dr. Death. Shower. Now." He sneezed again. "Where did I put the calamine lotion?"
"It's upstairs."
"Chapman, are you trying to torture me on purpose? Please go wash that stuff off." He looked at her imploringly. "Then will you help me slather myself in calamine before I opt to remove my skin with a vegetable peeler?"
As the two made their way upstairs, Sophie hung her head in shame. Lee shot her a look that spoke volumes and she merely muttered, "Merry Christmas, Papa."