No Carrots for Rudolph
An AU Mason Christmas family short. Hope it makes you smile
A huge thank you to my Beta Olitzbaby2 who has again helped with the editing and encouragement.
All mistakes are mine. Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I make no money and I write for fun.
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George Mason, fresh from his thorough scrubbing in the bathtub thanks to a run in with several large puddles of mud while fishing Mr Bear from the pond again, carried his milk and cookies solemnly into the living room. Steadily navigating the furniture so as not to drop an ounce of the precious liquid, he kept an eye out for the predators who may steal his cookie treasure. It was, as his mother always said, the only time he ever really seemed to slow down.
Upon reaching the sofa, he stopped and looked at his parents. Perry laid across the whole length of the sofa with his head resting on Della's lap. Della was curled in the corner massaging her husband's temple. George carried on standing there glaring at his father.
"What?" Perry grimaced. His own blue glare of death was staring right back at him.
"You're in my place daddy." George nodded his head in a silent command for his father to sit up and go to the other end of the sofa. Perry sat up, and George reverently placed his glass of milk and plate on the coffee table before planting himself next to his mother and burrowing under her arm. Perry and Della looked over his head at each other. Perry frowned. Della smirked.
"Mommy, what time do you think Santa will come tonight?" George reached over and took a large gulp of milk before he stuffed half the cookie in his mouth.
"Well," Della brushed her hand over his neatly combed wet hair. "Depends on how many stops he has darling."
"Will be come while I'm still awake?"
"No, you have to be asleep so he can leave you some surprises and get his work done without interruptions."
"But I just want to talk to him about the reindeers. I won't ask him about the presents. Do you think he got my letter yet?" George sslurped his milk.
"Of course, he did. Unlike daddy, Santa enjoys dealing with his letters."
Perry threw her a scowl. She gave him a demure smile before she briefly stuck her tongue out at him.
"What's in the present boxes already under the tree?" George pressed.
"Nothing darling." Della cooed. "Santa comes along and put the presents into the boxes we leave out."
At this point Tom looked up and snorted. "Squirt, you do know that physics says' it's an impossibility for Santa to…..'" He closed his mouth abruptly when Della fired a warning glance. He pressed his lips together and shook his head in irritation.
"Is that why our names are on the boxes?"
"Yes sweetheart. It's so he knows who gets what."
George went quiet and finished off a cookie before he drank down to less than half of his glass of milk.
"I asked for a portable cartridge tape player and a Spider bike. What did you ask for daddy?" George turned to his father, who was sneaking a look at the Popperwell brief. George looked aghast. ''Oh daddy, you're not allowed to work now. It's Christmas eve. You promised."
Sheepishly Perry stuffed the document back into his briefcase under the coffee table. Della's mouth twitched in amusement. Perry took a large drink of his scotch. "I asked for a son who wasn't as clever as the youngest one I have," he grumped before pulling George over to him and ruffling his hair.
"Hmm, let me see. I believe I asked for a new tie and a new shirt for court next time I go up against Uncle Hamilton." Perry raised his eyebrows and smirked.
George opened his mouth in awe before scooting back to his mother and whispering. "Mommy, daddy knows what we bought him and sent to Santa. Did he post a letter at the same time?"
"Hmmm, it seems so. Only letter he's written not under duress it appears."
"Wow!" George murmured in wonderment. He polished off his second cookie and milk in record time.
"Okay," Lily came into the room wiping her hands. "Everything's prepped for tomorrow." Perry Junior followed his sister into the living room carrying a tray full of drinks.
"Here we go folks. More milk for Squirt." Junior swapped a new glass of milk for the empty one"Cola for the Nerd's sugar fix." A bottle of coca cola went to Tom who gave a thumbs up. "Red wine for the lovely ladies of the Mason household." Della watched on as Lily eagerly took a glass.
"Wine young lady?"
"It's only one, Mom, and it is Christmas eve. Besides, Aunt Mae will let me have one tomorrow with dinner anyway.' Lily smiled in triumph and after raising the glass towards her mother in a toast took a sip.
"And," Junior finished handing another whiskey glass to his father before taking up a second from the tray. "Two snifters of scotch for the grown up Mason boys."
'Really?' Perry asked half amused. "The legal age in this state is 21. I'm an officer of the court. You're breaking the law."
"I'm behind closed doors. As Lily says, it's Christmas eve, I'm eighteen, and this is the first time I get to make the traditional Mason Christmas eve toast with a big boys drink." He gave a slight bow of his head. Perry himself split into a huge grin and gave a curt nod of his head in acknowledgement that he surrendered the argument. Lily perched herself on the arm of the sofa next to her father and draped an arm across the back of his shoulder.
"Merry Christmas, everyone." Junior raised his glass in a toast before the others followed. They all clinked glasses with each other. Della then pulled George into a ferocious hug with a kiss on his cheek which he wiped off with the back of his sleeve. Lily leaned in and planted a kiss on Perry's forehead.
"Merry Christmas Dad," she mumbled.
After a few minutes of laughing and joking around about Juniors inability to down the whiskey without coughing, Della made a move to stand up.
"Ok George. Time to get you to bed. It's a big day tomorrow."
"Can we put milk and cookies out for Santa? And we need some carrots for the reindeer. Puleeese?"
"Uh, oh." Lily and Junior looked at each other.
"What?" Della eyed them suspiciously.
"There's no carrots for Rudolph." Junior gave an awkward grimace.
George's mouth opened in shock. "What"' He breathed dramatically. He jumped up from his seat and began pacing the floor with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his bathrobe. "What do you mean there's no carrots? I can't believe you would dooooo such a thing as forget the snacks for the reindeer. I mean," he took in a sharp breath before he continued on at a million miles an hour. "How are they supposed to pull the sleigh when they're hungry? How is Santa going to get to all the children in the world if the reindeer aren't fed properly? How…."
"Whoa there, Squirt, slow down!" Lily stood in front of her little brother and stopped him pacing. "First of all, stop pacing like that. You look like a mini dad and it's disturbing on so many levels." Della let out a sniff of amusement. Perry just grunted and took another gulp of his drink. "Secondly, I'm sure we can find something else in the pantry for Rudolph and his friends to snack on."
"His friends are Dasher, Prancer, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Vixen!" George said seriously as he thought it was information they all needed to know.
"If you went to bed, I have my own vixen waiting for me," Perry muttered.
"Dad, you really need to get help for this obsession of yours." Junior chuckled before giving his mother a cheeky wink.
"Hey!" George brought them back to what he considered the critical discussion about reindeer food. "This is important. If we don't get them something to eat, Santa won't want to come back here next year!" Tears were brimming in his eyes as he let out an anguished cry.
"Oh good heavens, I'm off to my room. I can't listen to any of this scientifically impossible nonsense anymore." Tom crunched his comic book closed, kissed his mother on the chee, and disappeared.
"Come on Squirt." Lily held out her hand to her little brother. "Let's make sure Rudy and his pals are fed."
Lily, Junior and George all disappeared into the kitchen. Della slipped back onto the sofa and into a warm embrace.
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"Everything's locked up. I'm going upstairs to listen to some music." Junior popped his head around the door cautiously.
"Sorted?" Perry asked circling his thumb on Della's arm as his own draped about her shoulders.
"Yeah. We had a couple of parsnips and some potatoes left so we chopped them up and mixed them with some grass from the back yard. The reindeers will get a Mason veggie salad. There's a half glass of milk and a cookie left out too. Lily has taken Squirt up to his room to get changed. We're going to read him a story first, then Lily will be calling Annie for a chat. Squirts bike is in the hallway. It just needs to go near the tree. I'll have my headphones on. So, there's no need for you two stop doing whatever the heck it is you're doing or going to be doing. Just remember we're not asleep yet!"
"Thanks darling. Goodnight." Della waved a hand backwards.
'Goodnight son.'
The living room door closed quietly as the heavy teenager footsteps bounded up the staircase moments later.
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"What was that noise?" Della lifted her head up from where she was in the process of planting a trail of kisses along Perry's bare shoulder.
"It was nothing," Perry protested at the loss of contact. He slipped his hand behind Della's neck and pulled her in for a heated kiss. Moments later, Della pulled back again.
"There's someone in the kitchen." Della tried to pull away, but Perry held her in a vice like grip against him.
"It's most likely one of the kids." Perry insisted. Della managed to release herself, sit up, and readjusted her silk nightgown as she did. Perry growled in frustration before following suit and sitting up. He slipped on his t-shirt. There was a faint rustling and the clatter of a glass being placed on the table coming from the kitchen.
"Just a minute young lady,' Perry chastised and grabbed Della's hand as she jumped up from the bed and started for the staircase.
"What?"
"Wait for me. I'm pretty certain it's one of our brood, but just in case….."
The kitchen was dark and appeared to be exactly as it had been left when Junior had informed them everything was locked up and secure.
Perry entered first and flipped on the light switch. Della let out an audible gasp.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" She asked in an almost whisper. Perry nodded and then frowned. He checked the back door, It was locked. The key was on the hook as usual. He checked the windows. They were locked tight. The frown became a confused scowl.
"Someone is playing games with us." He declared suddenly as he walked over to the counter top and studied the empty milk glass and the even emptier plate where the cookies had been.
"Really?" Della sounded out in wonderment. "Look on the floor. Prints. You think next doors cat got in again?"
"Della my darling," Perry said sarcastically as he glanced at the wet prints which lead from the counter top to the locked door where they disappeared under it. "What kind of and large sized cat eats cookies and raw root veggies then leaves hoof prints?"
"They drink milk!" Della snapped at her husband. Perry opened and closed his mouth a couple of times and thought better of delivering the reply that sat on the tip of his tongue.
"You think Junior climbed out of his bedroom window, came in and made it look like Santa really had been here? " Perry asked. "Maybe he was setting it up for George in the morning."
"That would explain why we didn't see him on the stairs on the way back up." Della offered.
"That must be it."
"Must be." Della sighed. "Come on husband, Tornado George will no doubt be up in a few short hours, and we will never get any sleep."
"Well before all these noises," Perry grasped her waist and pulled her flush against him. "We weren't planning on getting much sleep anyway, and you my little vixen were in the middle of ravishing me."
Snaking her arms about his neck, Della planted a kiss on his chin. "I was wasn't I…..hmmmnnn. Maybe tomorrow night now." She yawned. "I'm beat.' She extricated herself from his arms and took his hand before they started back towards the stairs. As the reached the light switch, Perry took one last look at the kitchen counter top and shook his head. Something wasn't right, but he'd leave it for now. He flipped the switch and plunged the house back into darkness.
In his bedroom, George slipped out of his bed and held onto Mr Bear tightly as he went to the window. The sky was cloudless, and the stars were twinkling brightly. One star just above the house appeared to be moving. George let out a gasp.
"Mr Bear, I think that's Santa!" He breathed barely in a whisper. Taking a fluffy paw, he had Mr Bear wave towards the shooting star and gave an enigmatic smile.
"Bye Santa, see you next year."