May 10th 2020

Chapter 131
Their Cheers of Peace

"Wait, do we have the marshmallows?" Maya stalled, turning to Lucas and then the house.

"I have them," Lucas held up the bag of things he'd packed for this small excursion of theirs.

"Good, okay, that's… What's with the smile?" she asked, to which he gave a small nod to the hat on her head. "You'll get it back tomorrow," Maya promised, smirking and adjusting the Santa hat sitting over her braided hair. "Now, come on, I want to be out there before midnight."

"Yes, Santa," Lucas tipped his head and followed. This made her laugh, even as she lead the way, humming and singing a Christmas carol, as the last hour of December 24th ticked on.

They arrived at the campfire site, where Maya saw to setting up a blanket before sorting through the drinks and the makings of smores they had brought from the house while Lucas got the fire going.

"Mint chocolate?" she held up the bars.

"Felt more festive," he shrugged.

"And orange marshmallows, really?"

"It was Maeve's suggestion," Lucas stood back as the fire came to life.

"Was this before or after she got pregnant? It might be one of those weird taste things…"

"Before," he laughed.

"What's next, egg nog crackers?"

"No, they're just the normal kind."

He sat down at her side, taking the bottle she offered him with a tip of the head for thanks and spearing the marshmallow with her. As they held them over the flames, they paused, just taking in their surroundings now, and present company… It was Christmas Eve, for a little while longer, and after the whirlwind of the surprise Sleepster, and their trip up to Houston today to celebrate with their friends, they had decided the best way to end the day would be with a lowercase date, by the fire, with smores and drinks and each other.

"Okay, here we go," Maya declared, as their blackening marshmallows were met with the other components of their festive treats. When they were able to take a bite, they did so, both of them sort of pausing and exploring the combination before they could pronounce themselves on the result.

"Not what I was expecting," Lucas declared, his face suggesting he wasn't completely sold yet, but he could be, given time to let the thing grow on him. He looked to Maya, curious to see what she thought of it, only to find she'd already consumed half of it, a content little smile on her face. "How about you?" he teased. She looked up at him, a deer in headlights.

"You've got stuff stuck in your beard," she informed him in return, chuckling as he worked to clean it away.

"Did I get it?"

"Sort of moved it elsewhere," she informed him, reaching over to assist. "Best I can do, you'll get more anyway, that thing is a menace with sticky foods."

"Is it? Hadn't noticed," he took another bite. Maya looked at him and bit back a laugh. "After tomorrow, I'm going to see about taking it down a notch, less Santa, more…"

"Rugged cowboy man?" Maya filled in for him. "I have to say, that was kind of my favorite stage of this whole adventure in your face there."

"Oh, I noticed that," he nodded, getting a playful kick in the leg for his troubles. "What are you doing?" Lucas asked, as he now watched her spear two of the big soft orange puffs to hold over the flame.

"Experimenting," she informed him, with a gleam of mad scientist in her eyes.

"I'm going to have to cut you off, aren't I?"

"You can try…"

"Sugar rush and alcohol, next to an open flame, I'm just saying. I'm not feeling Christmas in the ER," he made his point. Maya looked as though she was picturing it all in her head now, and had since moved right into 'how do I spin this in my favor?' Lucas sat now with a look of pointed curiosity, waiting for this answer as well. Seeing this, Maya quickly tipped the way of amused agreement.

"Well, gosh, how lucky am I to have such a caring husband in the making…" she declared, a moment before gasping and pulling her marshmallows away from the fire. They were looking very much on the coal end of the spectrum. "They're still good, it's fine, help?" Lucas took up the graham crackers and chocolate, moving to collect the burnt sugary bits. "Careful with your fingers…"

"I got it, I got it," Lucas promised. "This is going to go everywhere…" he frowned, right before Maya could put her plate under his hands and he let go. "Good?"

"Going to give it a few before I eat it, but it looks promising… Fingers?"

"All present and accounted for, no burns," he assured her.

They quietly took in their surroundings for a while. The sounds of the night, of the crackling fire, were just barely mixed in with what could either have been the whistle of the wind or someone somewhere playing Christmas songs late into the night and loud enough for them to hear.

"I think that's the rink," Lucas turned to Maya, knowing she would have heard it, too, likely more than he did. "They're open all night on Christmas Eve."

"Has to be," Maya agreed. "Next year, we should go," she suggested, effectively stating her intentions to stay here and keep enjoying this quiet moment, just the two of them, at the same time.

"Next year," Lucas nodded.

There were so many pillars throughout each year, those anniversaries, and birthday, and holidays they celebrated time and again, and they just felt like… timelines, each one. Whenever one of those days came along, they would find themselves in the moment, but at the same time they'd also be thinking about those same days they had already lived, and the memories attached to those, and ever since the two of them had been a couple, with an outlook on the future, they had taken to think about what those days might be, in years to come. Every year it seemed that their vision of the future changed, which made sense. Every year they knew more of what they were, and what they would come to be…

This year, for instance, with his decision to work at Sullivan Stables, he could foresee holidays spent out there, in the place his grandmother had put together. And one thing they knew for sure of the next Christmas, besides the fact that they would be headed to the rink for some late night skating, as they'd now decided… it would be their first of the holiday as a married couple.

"So, how is it?" Lucas asked, as he watched Maya break apart the new smore and take a bite.

"Very burnt… I kind of like it…" she squinted, speaking like a judge in a cooking competition. "And the last one for tonight, if I'm ever going to sleep," she added in her normal voice after a pause.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Lucas smiled.

"We're going to have to be careful tomorrow," Maya told him as he fixed himself a second smore. "MJ is starting to get suspicious about… you know," she prodded her hat with the one of her fingers that wasn't sticky with melted marshmallow.

"Right," Lucas agreed.

"And it might be the first Christmas Haley remembers at least a little… Do you think she'll figure it out when she looks at you?"

"Depends. Remember that year we dressed as Jack and Sally for Halloween. Gracie recognized me then and it was way more makeup. Also she was just a year old." The memory lit up in Maya's mind at once, that look on her baby sister's face as she'd stared at Skeleton Lucas with something unmistakably like recognition. It made her laugh out loud, breaking the near stillness with giggles like chiming bells.

"That's Gracie though," she finally came around to say. "And Haley… Not to say she's not bright, but I think you should be okay."

"I can leave and go get changed, come back an hour later as Santa. I'll just say I have to go to work."

"On Christmas?" Maya frowned.

"He's five…" Lucas countered, making her smirk.

"A very important book emergency?"

"Always, very important. Also, passing a message on the importance of literature," he nodded.

"Alright, if you're going to keep that up, you're the one who needs to be wearing this thing," Maya carefully lifted the red and white hat and deposited it on top of Lucas' head. He reached up to adjust it. "And look at that, it's midnight," Maya sat back and looked to her watch. "Go on, Claus, let the kids hear you!" she stood, bottle raised with a grin.

Lucas straightened up in his seat, more than happy to humor her and channel his inner Pappy Joe, the true Santa as far as he was concerned. Letting out a jolly 'ho ho ho' into the night, in this place of all places, made him feel more than ever like he was carrying on this legacy he had been handed.

"Fabulous performance, well done, now really dig deep, from that belly of… well… from that pillow you'll be sticking under your shirt tomorrow in place of… yeah…" Maya gestured toward his total lack of a belly. "Quiet on the set and…. Action, Santa!" she pointed at him. He laughed, focusing once again and taking her direction to 'dig deep' before giving her another 'ho ho ho.' "Yes, better!" Maya hopped about on her feet for a moment before moving to sit with him again, leaning in to kiss him as he held his hat in place.

"You know what this is making me think of?" Lucas asked, smiling, as they pulled back. She shook her head. He started to sing, quietly, to a familiar tune, though changing one M word for another, to create 'I saw Maya kissing Santa Claus,' which made her burst out laughing again, tipping her head to his shoulder.

"I'm putting that on next year's album," she told him as he put his arm around her and she turned her head up to look at him.

"I smell a hit," he declared, kissing her forehead and earning complaints that he was going to leave marshmallow and chocolate on her face.

"We should probably get going back to the house," Maya sighed a little while later. "Before our chaperone up there comes looking for us," she nodded back in the direction of the house, where Sam had gone to bed before they came out here. She could just imagine him sitting up in the living room in wait, ready to give them a 'what time do you call this?' if he didn't outright march down to the campfire to get them. They had to get up early! Christmas! Party! Family!

"Oh, we wouldn't want that," Lucas intoned. Maya laughed, getting up and holding her hand to him so he'd follow suit.

They gathered everything up again, putting out the fire which plunged them back at the mercy of the moon and stars to cut the darkness. They walked on back toward the house, Lucas' arm around Maya's shoulders. There was a merry giddiness in the air, a mix of sugar, and drinks, and holiday spirit… They looked forward to morning, where they would get to expand this feeling beyond just the two of them. That was what made it all something to look forward to, wasn't it? Near and far, they had people they loved and who loved them in return, and they were going to have themselves the merriest of Christmases, completed with the very first appearance of a bearded Santa who, they had a feeling, would be making many more of these visits in years to follow.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners