Chapter Two: A Cup of Cheer
"Damn it," Squall shouted as he hit his head on his bedside table.
"What's going on?" Rinoa asked, as she reached for him.
Squall had rolled off his small bed in the Commander's room of the newly rebuilt Balamb Garden, only to hit his small beside table. Squall clenched his forehead as his scar hurt like it was fresh.
"Man, that's stings," Squall whined as he tried to sooth the pain.
There was a knock at his door. This was the second one; the first having woken Squall in the first place.
"Wake up Squall! It's Christmas!" came the eager, childlike voice of Selphie.
"Oh great," Squall sighed. "I'll be out in a minute!"
Selphie's feet pattered away.
"You're not excited?" Rinoa asked, as she threw her shirt on.
"Christmas?" Squall asked. "I like the holidays and all, but now that I'm the leader everybody is going to expect me to be more…"
"Oh," Rinoa giggled slightly. "You prefer to enjoy the holidays in a quiet safe corner of the room."
"Sipping on a glass of eggnog, preferably a strong one," Squall nodded.
"You're terrible!" Rinoa laughed as she hit his shoulder playfully. "Well maybe you won't have to. I'm sure Selphie would love to give the Christmas Toast this year."
Rinoa suddenly changed tack, her brow narrowing. "You are going to at least pay Zell a visit in the infirmary, right?"
"Of course!" Squall cried. "It's my fault he got hurt. I should never have sent him out there."
"He had a job to do, he knew what was going to happen," Rinoa explained.
"Still… I just feel so bad for the guy," Squall sighed.
There was yet another knock on the door.
"I said I'll be out in a minute!" Squall shouted.
---
"Sir? Are you okay?" Came Reno's voice.
Rufus awoke and rubbed his head. "Another weird dream."
"You've been having a lot of those lately," Reno laughed. "Must be the holiday stress."
Rufus shrugged his shoulders. "Well what did you need?"
"Just wanted to let you know that Tseng is feeling a lot better. And with tomorrow being Christmas Eve, he was wondering if you would permit him to recall some active duty Turks," Reno said. "You know, for the holidays."
Rufus scoffed. "I just have a bump on my head, I still remember that it's the holidays. Yeah, go ahead and call them back. There's no Urgent assignments right?"
"Nope. He'll be very pleased. Thank you Sir," Reno bowed slightly as he left the room.
---
Rufus walked down the hallway in his robe. A young nurse saw him and gasped.
"Mr. President, you shouldn't be moving in your condition!" She cried.
"I'll be fine. A bump on the noggin is nothing. If you want to do me a favor, send a message to my support staff and tell them to meet me in the conference room," Rufus ordered.
"Yes, Mr. President," The nurse bowed.
Rufus walked past her to the elevator and stepped in. Rufus groaned as he saw that even the interior of the elevator had been adorned with Christmas lights.
"Really? Was that really necessary?" Rufus sighed.
He pressed the button and leaned back against the wall as the elevator lowered. The doors opened and he saw Professor Hojo walking down the hallway carrying a lab report. This was not the unusual part. He seemed to be wearing a Santa hat.
"Doctor Hojo, you celebrate Christmas?" Rufus asked as he walked out of the elevator.
"Good evening, sir. You seem a tad under-dressed for the office," Hojo chortled.
"No seriously. What's with the Santa hat?" Rufus asked.
"Oh, because I'm a scientist I can't celebrate a holiday?" Hojo scoffed.
"Well you're a man of reason and science. Doesn't the whole religious aspect and the magical aspect of Santa kinda bother you?" Rufus asked.
"364 days out of the year it does. But I've got the heart of kid on Christmas," Hojo smiled.
Rufus paused. "I hope you're being figurative…"
Hojo rolled his eyes and walked down another corridor. Rufus shrugged his shoulders and entered the Conference Room.
"Hmph," Rufus muttered as he saw the empty room. "It's like I almost expected them to already be here."
Rufus sat down in a chair on the far end of the table. He kicked his feet up on the table and decided to give his eyes a rest.
---
"Another round?" The bartender at the Jolly Roger inn called.
"No thank you!" Virginia replied, waving her hand. "I don't expect we'll be needing anymore."
Gallows had already passed out drunk, and Clive was busy sipping on a hot chocolate while reading a rather dull looking book.
"Some Christmas spirit," Jet moaned looking at his glass. "What's in this stuff?"
"Alcohol and lots of it," the bartender grunted, a little annoyed. She cast a searching glance at Virginia who waved her hand apologetically.
"So come on, it's Christmas! We should do something!" Virginia cried.
"Celebrate the fact that we're on the run from society at large. Woo, sounds exciting," Jet snapped.
"Jeez man, you're bringing the whole bar down," The bartender shot.
"There's nobody else in here!" Jet shouted. "And you're peddling a depressant!"
"Jet, please," Virginia sighed, tugging at his shoulder.
"Seriously," Clive added. "You think you've got it bad. I can't be in Humphrey's Peak with my wife and daughter for Christmas, how do you think that makes me feel?"
Jet seemed puzzled by this. "Well, we could always take the Sandcraft there. It's only a six hour ride."
"Yeah but…" Clive shook his head. "We'd be apprehended by the militia. They've been searching the areas where our families are. They expect it."
"So you're saying they won't be at home with their families on Christmas too?" Jet asked.
"Well… maybe…" Virginia thought.
"Even so… how would we do it?" Clive asked.
"Well…"Jet rubbed his chin.
"We could dress him up as Santa," Gallows grunted. Apparently he had merely been resting his head on the bar. He raised his head and rubbed his eyes. "We'd chill in the Sandcraft and have our own little party while you got some alone time with your family."
Clive smiled widely. "Okay then! Let's get me in a costume. I hope I'm still skinny enough to fit down the chimney!"
The door to the bar burst open and…
---
"You called us sir?" Scarlet asked.
"What?!" Rufus shouted as he slid out of his chair.
"Oh, jeez," Reeve sighed. "I was hoping it would be a joke. Why are you walking around, sir. You've got concussion."
"It's nothing I can't handle," Rufus waved.
It's all the weird dreams I can't handle, he thought.
"Well what did you want to see us about?" Palmer asked as he took his seat next to Heidegger.
"It's about Christmas," Rufus said. "I was wondering what the plans were for Christmas Eve's party."
"A little late to be re-scheduling the agenda," Heidegger noted.
"I'm just doing a double-check," Rufus snapped. "I want to make sure things will be okay."
Scarlet tipped her head to one side. "Um… sure. We're going to have the standard. It will be in this room… well on this whole floor realistically speaking. Punch and eggnog along with candy canes, sugar cookies and several party sandwiches. We'll have Christmas Carols, Secret Santa gift exchanges…"
"Yeah yeah yeah. I have attended a few Christmas parties in my day," Rufus nodded. "What I meant was when is this whole thing going down?"
"We figured get started at 4 PM, letting the staff off work a little early as a treat, and then ending around midnight," Reeve said.
"An eight hour party?" Rufus asked. "Will people really stick around that long?"
"For Christmas, sure," Heidegger nodded.
"Ugh… Okay well that's fine I guess. Dismissed," Rufus waved.
"That was all you needed us for?" Scarlet asked.
"No… I just… I don't know," Rufus grunted.
Reeve stood and made a cutting gesture with his wrist, telling the others to leave while he dealt with the situation. They were none too hesitant to follow the suggestion.
"Sir, if you're not feeling well," Reeve said in a soft, sympathetic voice.
"It's not that. It's just this whole Christmas thing," Rufus whined.
"What do you mean?" Reeve asked.
"I don't know. I want to be excited about Christmas. I want it all to mean something special for me like it does for you guys, but I just keep seeing it as just another day," Rufus pouted.
"That's… fairly complicated," Reeve sighed. "Didn't you like Christmas as a kid?"
"Well my dad was always too busy to talk to me during Christmas. It would just be me and my mom for the first couple of years, and then of course she passed on," Rufus coughed. "It was just another day then too. Except I got some presents of course, but then I was the President's son. I always got presents. Whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it."
"Christmas is about more than just the presents," Reeve replied.
"I know that!" Rufus shouted. He lowered his head. "I'm sorry. I'm just really confused."
"Sir, I don't mean to upset you more, but if you haven't figured out what Christmas is really all about in these 30 years you've been alive, then… you probably won't," Reeve sighed.
He walked out of the conference room and shut the door.