Author's Note: I just want to say thank you to those of you reading this, and especially to those of you who have reviewed! I hope you continue to enjoy the story! (And I'm SO glad that I'm not the only one who wishes there were more A Christmas Story fanfiction and fanart - frankly, I'm surprised there isn't but it is what it is.) This chapter (and the next) is dedicated to the friendship between Ralphie, Flick, and Schwartz. :)

January 3, 1974, 2:13 pm

Flick's Tavern

Flick wiped down the bar top and looked around the nearly empty Tavern with a sigh. The first week or so of the new year was always the slowest time, thanks to all the New Year's resolutions made. Spend more time with the family. Drink less. Be more productive at work or at home. Such good intentions, but always so easily discarded. By about the 10th or so, things would return to normal. It was the price paid for a hectic holiday season.

The bell over the door rang, and Flick was happily surprised to see Ralphie Parker walk in. "Ralphie!" He a dropped the towel on the bar top and walked around to meet his old friend. "What are you doing here?"

They hugged, and Ralphie gave a slight smile and a shrug. "My mother broke her leg."

Flick frowned. "Oh, no. How did that happen?"

"She was taking down the tree, getting the star off the top of it, and she fell off the ladder." He shook his head. "I knew I should have taken it down before I left, but she wanted me to leave it up." He raised his eyebrows. "Can I get a beer?"

"Sure. Come on, sit down."

"By the way, I'll bring your star back."

"No rush. An entire year until I'll need it again."

Flick went back around the bar and drew a draft for his old friend. He pushed across the bar and noticed that Ralphie looked exhausted. "How is she?"

Ralphie tilted his head back and forth. "She's okay. She's lucky she didn't hurt herself worse. I'm going to stay with her for a few weeks though. She was so happy at Christmas, but I think the grief is catching up with her. Sandy and the kids will come out on the weekends." He lifted a small smile. "I got here last night and she's already sick of me."

Flick chuckled. "I doubt that."

Ralphie looked around. "Slim pickings, eh?"

"Worst week of the year for a bartender."

"Where's Schwartz?"

Flick raises his eyebrows. "Schwartz, believe it or not, is at a job interview."

Ralphie's eyes widened. "Wow. New Year's resolution?"

"New Year's girlfriend. Esther Jane Alberry, to be exact."

"Esther Jane? She's back? She's been long gone since graduation."

"She came back right after Christmas. Right after you left. Goes by Jane, though. She grew up well. Really beautiful. And she has eyes for Schwartz." Flick grinned. Made him happy, the way Jane looked at his buddy, the way she laughed with him and talked to him as if he wasn't just one of the bar flies. "You're not jealous, are you?"

Ralphie laughed and shook his head. "I got over her in sixth grade, remember?"

"Oh, right. When you noticed Heather Mason and her…eyes." Flick toggled his eyebrows.

"Exactly." Ralphie took a drink. "So Schwartz and Jane, huh?"

"He said he got lucky. And I think he meant that in more ways than one."

"About time."

Flick nodded but looked down. Grabbed his towel and wiped a spot that didn't need wiping. These stupid cynical thoughts kept coming to him. He'd had to be really careful to keep that from Schwartz. Luckily, Schwartz was too over-the-moon to notice.

But Ralphie wasn't Schwartz.

"So why do you look worried?"

Flick sighed and met Ralphie's eyes. "Just…well, you know he had trouble after he came back from Korea. He was miserable. Drinking a lot. A lot. Took him a few years, but he got in a groove. Never had much luck with women, but always had a steady job. He didn't hang out here as much. Now he's been out of work for a year and a half. And the reason he lost his job this last time was a woman." Flick shook his head. "He thought he had a good thing, you know? With this girl named Tracy. Turns out, she was married. Lived in Munster, but came up to Hohman to, as she herself said, go slumming. That's what she was doing with Schwartz, while he was thinking he finally had a girl."

Ralphie shook his head. "How'd he find out?"

"She told him after she and her husband got back together. And she didn't mince words. She told him exactly what I just told you."

Ralphie sighed and leaned back in his stool. "Oh, God, poor Schwartz."

"Yeah. So he starting drinking all the time again, even on the job. That didn't go over well and they fired him. And you know how Mrs. Schwartz babies him. I mean, I know she needs him, but she's never been able to say no to him even when she ought to."

Ralphie raised his eyebrows. "What about you? Letting him run up such a huge tab?"

Flick nodded and held up a guilty hand. "I know. I know." He shook his head. "Something about the guy just makes everyone say yes even when we know better." He stared at the bar top. "None of us do him any favors."

"So…"

"So stop?" Flick looked at Ralphie. "It's not that easy, Ralphie. He leaves here, he'll go to the Night Cap. And if he goes to the Night Cap, he could get himself into some real trouble. That crowd is bad. Really bad. And as much as he drives me crazy sometimes, I don't want..." Flick trailed off. Figured he didn't need to finish that sentence because he was sure Ralphie understood.

Ralph nodded. "Yeah. I get it."

He shook his head and met Ralphie's eyes. "I tell you, he hasn't done this much drinking since the war. And you know, it changed him. I mean, he's never had luck, but before Korea he could take it, you know? Laugh it off. Get over it."

Ralph looked down. "The war changed all of us."

"Yeah. Of course. I know it did." He looked at Ralphie. "I think he mostly hates how he came home. Why he came home."

Ralphie nodded, but then frowned. "He had a heart murmur. The Army had no choice and neither did he."

"I know."

"And it wasn't his fault."

"I know that too. But even so, he thinks of it as a failure." Flick shook his head. "Another one."

Ralphie took a drink and looked up at the ceiling, then back at Flick.

"So you think this thing with Jane will go south?"

Flick shrugged. "I hope not. She really seems to like him. I mean, she looks at him in a way I've never seen anyone look at him before."

Ralphie nods. "But…"

"This might surprise you, but he told me he doesn't really want to live the way he has been anymore. And that's great. A long time coming if you ask me. Jane's certainly helping him, but what if she does screw him over?" Flick sighs again. "If that happens, I just don't know if he'll ever pick himself up again."

Ralphie runs his finger around the rim of his beer glass. "Have you said anything?"

"No. He's happy, man. Really happy." He grins. "He's paying for his drinks." He glances over his shoulder and points where Schwartz's tab used to be. "He even paid off the tab he started up after I cleared the last one. Maybe I won't have to try to get tough."

Ralphie smiles. "Well, let's just stay positive. She likes him enough to help him look for a job. Doesn't sound like she's just slumming to me."

Flick nodded. "You're probably right." He grinned. "I just can't afford for Schwartz go back to leeching off me." More accurately, Schwartz couldn't. Not really. Not down deep inside, and Flick would never say it out loud, but he cared about that. It had been rough watching Schwartz pretty much give up on anything except booze. "Hey, why don't you come over to my house for dinner tonight, Ralphie? Lois is home. I'd love for you to meet her. And Schwartz and Jane are coming."

"Sounds good. My mom has a few more casseroles from the neighbors. She'll take pity on me." Ralphie grinned and lifted his beer. "You got yourself some help for the new year, then?"

"Lois insisted. Turns out she'd like to have me home sometimes."

The bell on the front door jingled, immediately followed by a sweet mixture of laughter. Flick looked over and immediately smiled. Schwartz and Jane walked in, grinning ear to ear at each other. "Is a celebration in order?"

Schwartz stopped when he saw Ralph. "Ralphie! Oh, yeah, this is perfect!" He gave Ralph a hug. "Two visits in two weeks. To what do we owe the honor?"

Flick grimaced. "Mrs. Parker broke her leg."

Schwartz had the grace to wince. "Oh, damn, Ralphie, I'm sorry. Is she okay?"

Ralph shook his head, patted Schwartz on the shoulder. "She's fine. And it's okay, buddy. You going to introduce me?" He looked past Schwartz and smiled at Jane.

Schwartz looked back at Jane, who'd stopped slightly behind him. "Yeah, yeah, come here, Janey." He put an arm around her shoulder and grinned.

Flick chuckled. His buddy practically glowed.

"You remember Esther Jane from school? This is her. Janey, you remember Ralphie, right?"

Jane smiled and held her hand out. "Of course. Nice to see you again, Ralph. You look great."

"Thanks, Jane. So do you."

"Paul told me all about the story you wrote about your father."

Ralphie frowned and looked at Schwartz, then Flick. "Paul?"

Flick laughed, both at Ralphie's lack of recognition and the slightly embarrassed expression that came across Schwartz's face. "Yeah, you remember Schwartzy's first name, don't you?"

"Right. Sorry. No one's called him that since first grade."

Schwartz shrugged. "She likes it." He smiled at Jane.

Jane slipped her arm through Schwartz's. "He kept the paper and I read it." Her smile broadened. "Good job on the margins. Miss Shields would have been impressed."

Ralph chuckled. "Right. Might have even gotten an A."

"Oh, absolutely."

Flick noticed a flicker of something on Schwartz's face. Just a too-quick blink of his eyes. A thinning and tightening of his smile. He reached across his body to take hold of Jane's hand on his arm. Most people wouldn't have thought anything of it, but Flick knew better.

He'd have to have a word with Schwartz. Remind him that the past was the past, and that judging by the way Jane looked at him, no one on earth was a threat. Certainly not Ralphie, who Flick knew loved Schwartz just as much as he did.