17 days till' X-MAS

Part 2 of the orphanage one-shot (inspired by Jotenheim Storm).

And the book I write about here is "Santa Paws" by Ellen Emerson White.

Bruce's POV

It was noon on Saturday and Natasha had some how wrangled me into a stupid Santa Clause costume without the other guy making an appearance. Heck, I didn't know how she did it. Anyways, I was not happy.

"Just think of the children," Pepper said, "They need to feel the Christmas spirit and be happy." "Pepper stop trying to guilt trip me." I responded. Truth was I did feel bad not wanting to help the kids, but Santa, seriously? I'm not cut out for this.

"Okay, everyone!" Clint announced, "Get in the car, we're leaving." "Ooh, I want to drive!" Tony said. "No way, Tony, your wearing an ironman suit." Pepper replied. "Oh, good point. I'll fly." Tony said.

"Wait! We can't leave yet!" Natasha added, "Santa needs to be fatter." She said as she stuffed a pillow up my shirt. I grumbled angrily in my fluffy red jacket. "And happier. Santa needs to be jolly." Pepper said. "Put a smile on your face, Bruce." I groaned.

We all loaded into the car, and Tony started flying. Steve was wearing his uniform and so were Natasha, Clint, and Thor. They had packed Steve's shield and Clint's bow and Mjionir. There were also tons of cookies and a giant thermos of hot chocolate in the back.

Within ten minutes we arrived at out destination. It looked like the stereotypical brick orphanage with ivy growing up the walls and a little swing set, covered in snow on the side of the building. A pretty woman with dark blonde hair and a cute purple hat who I assumed was Rose waited for us on the front steps.

We all hopped out of the car and Tony landed. Everyone gathered their stuff and Thor shouldered the thermos of hot chocolate while Pepper grabbed the twenty crates of cookies. I tried to look a little more cheery and lose the bad attitude, but it was hard to when I was wearing a stupid Santa outfit with a pillow stuffed in it. I tried my best though.

Rose hopped up off the stairs and skipped over towards us. "Thank you guys so much for coming!" Rose said excitedly. "Not a problem, miss," Tony greeted as he took some boxes if cookies out of Peppers arms so she wouldn't topple over from the weight."We are glad to be here." "Awesome!" She said, " The kids are inside at the cafeteria. They are really bored and they dont know that your coming. It's going to be a suprise." She grinned. "Head on in."

I followed the rest of the Avengers towards the doors and Rose fell into step with to me. "It is really sweet of you to dress up as Santa." She said. "The kids are going to love it, Mr. Banner." "No problem," I responded, "And you can call me Bruce." She smiled.

We reached the doors and Tony opened them. We filed into the halls and peeked into the window of the cafeteria. All of the kids were sitting their tiredly at the tables. "Let's open the doors on 3." Natasha said. Everyone nodded. "1...2...3!" And we swung open the doors. "Merry Christmas everyone!" Tony yelled as he flew into the room, still holding the crates of cookies.

The kids instantly perked up. "Wow! Cool! It's the Avengers!" The kids grinned. Pepper went to set up the food and Tony set down the cookies. Clint and Natasha started playing Christmas tunes through the speakers. The kids brightened with excitement.

I wasn't really sure what to do. Steve had gone over to a group of young boys and was letting them hold his shield. Clint and Natasha were dancing with a large bunch of kids and Pepper was serving hot chocolate to two little girls. A few kids had lined up to try to lift Thor's hammer. And Tony was letting the kids try on his helmet and was currently showing a small group of children how to use a piece of tech.

I noticed a little girl who couldn't have been more than five years old, sitting in the back of the room, all alone, staring glassy-eyed at the wall. I guess I just connected with her and I decided to head on over. I grabbed a stack of Christmas books that Pepper had brought and sat down beside her. "Hi, what's your name?" I asked her. "Oh, hello."she responded. "I'm Divvy." "What's wrong?" I asked her. "Nothing really." She said. "I just miss all my friends. They've all been adopted and I'm still here. And no one wants to be my friend any more because I'm blind." "Oh," I replied not really sure how to respond. " Don't worry, you'll be adopted soon." I reassured her. "Thanks," she said. "And I'll be your friend." I said. She hinted at a smile.

We sat in silence for a little bit. "Hey, do you want me to read you a story?" I asked, "You can choose the book." "Okay." She said. "Ummm,do you have any books about dogs?." She asked. "I only have Christmas books but how about if I read Santa Paws? It has a dog on the cover." I asked her. "Yeah, that sounds good." She said.

"Okay." I replied as I opened the book and begin to tell her the tale of the lost dog on Christmas Eve. Suprisingly, she climbed up and sat on my lap. I smiled, what a cute kid. I wasn't excpeting her to be so comfortable around me.

Even more suprisingly, a few more kids begin to stroll over to hear the story. Pretty soon the group had grown from just Divvy, to a group of ten. And then pretty soon to fifty kids. I felt warm inside and continued to tell the story of the Christmas dog.

Pretty much the entire orphanage was gathered around me as I read, and the other Avengers (as they had no more kids to entertain) came over and started passing out cookies to the kids. Rose smiled at me from across the room.

The kids were captivated by the story. They laughed when the Christmas dog ate a boys lunch on the playground and they they gasped when he got lost in the mall. Divvy gripped my hand when the dog saved a family from a fire. The kids even clapped when I finished the book.

I felt really happy. Really truly happy. I was glad that I could brighten up the spirits of the poor children of the orphanage. I was over joyed to share the spirit of Christmas with love and care. I didn't have to worry about the Hulk when I felt like this. This was what it felt like to spread love, To be family. "Merry Christmas." I smiled to the kids. Merry Christmas.