A/N: Hey, happy Saturday. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Also, if my Spanish is off in this, then I do apologise; I haven't studied it in a long time.
The station had been decorated since Thanksgiving due to Vic's excitement for Christmas but the team were spending the afternoon decorating the trucks.
To bring Christmas cheer to the citizens of Seattle after such a hectic year, Maya had organised a Christmas light drive-by. Citizens were encouraged to drive past the station to witness all the pretty lights that adorned both the station and the trucks, with a surprise waiting for them at the end of the parade.
The team had begun hanging lights on the outside of the building throughout the morning, between the calls that came in. And in the afternoon, 19 was taken off the service so they could decorate the trucks with all the left-over lights and ornaments in the few boxes containing decorations that had been collected over a few decades at the station.
Both Vic and Travis had wanted to keep a cohesive theme, sticking with the classic red and silver. But as they got to the last stragglers of the ornaments, the theme went out the window.
"Oh, my gosh. La Estrella. Pensé que había perdido esto. (The star. I thought I had lost this.)" Andy said, carefully picking up an ornament from the box.
"What's that?" Travis asked.
"This star" Andy began, cautiously holding a glass star in her hands, "Growing up I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and I always wanted to be the one to put it on the top of the tree but my Papi always said that I couldn't until every last decoration had been placed around the house. I don't remember when I stopped… It must've been in this box all these years."
"Well, I've just hung the last ornament. You wanna put it on the tree?" Vic suggested knowing the difficulty Andy was facing at this time of year.
Andy couldn't help but smile at her friend's suggestion. She quickly jumped up and ran to the beanery to place the star at the top of the tree. The station had two trees, one downstairs for the public to see and then one upstairs with the Secret Santa presents underneath them, so the public didn't steal them.
Due to her height, Andy dragged a chair to the side of the tree to be able to switch the stars. The current one adorning the tree was a plastic silver one that Travis had brought in from home.
"You know, in Australia, you're more likely to die from falling off a chair than being eaten by a shark." Robert's voice filled the silence as he walked into the beanery, watching as his wife carefully stood on her tiptoes to change the tree toppers.
"Robert, we aren't in Australia. I'm fine" Andy stated holding onto the back of the chair as she stepped down, "Well, well, well. Look at you." She continued as she locked eyes with her husband.
Somehow Robert had been roped into dressing up as Santa Claus to surprise the children at the end of the Christmas light parade and being the probie, he couldn't refuse. Rather than helping to put up the decorations, Robert had been hiding away in his bunk putting on the costume as slowly as possible, wondering what he had gotten himself into.
"You like it?" Robert nervously laughed knowing how ridiculous he looked.
"Well, I prefer sexy Santa compared to this but for the children, it's perfect." Andy replied wrapping her arms around his neck.
"What are you doing up here?"
"I was obsessed with that star when I was a kid, always wanting to put it on the tree straight away. After my mother left, I forgot it even existed. Then we found it in one of the boxes and we thought it should take pride of place on top of the tree once again."
"It's beautiful."
"Hmm, though nothing is as beautiful as you are right now. I will need a photo of this." Andy spoke as she got her phone out of her back pocket.
"Don't you dare! Andrea Herrera!" Robert protested, stretching his arms out to block Andy from taking any decent pictures of him dressed up as Santa.
"I think that's our Christmas card photo sorted." Andy teased him as she flicked through the multiple pictures on her phone.
"Right that's it, you're coming with me." Robert said walking over to his wife. In one swift movement, he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder before taking her to his bunk.
"Robert Sullivan put me down!" Andy shouted.
"No. Santa is putting your name down on the naughty list now." Robert couldn't help but get into character; maybe being Santa wasn't so bad after all.