On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me...

Seven Swans A-Swimming

Family/Friendship

Old City Sanctuary, 1986

A nearly-two year old Ashley started opening cupboard doors – or trying to. Big Guy had long-since discovered child-catches, leaving her frustrated at every turn as she made her progress from cupboard to cupboard, knowing full well that the grown-ups could get inside. Helen, mid-conversation as her Sasquatch butler prepared the vegetables for tomorrow's feast, paused to reach over and alleviate her daughter's obsession.

"Come on Ashley," she soothed, reaching out for her tiny hand.

"No," she wined, spinning on the spot and sounding very, very irritable, her little face going pink, eyes watery as though they could go at any minute.

"Come sit on Mummy's knee and then we'll take you up for a story-" telling her it was bedtime always equated to an instant screaming-match.

"No!" she emphasised, scuttering away before Helen took her hand but not fast enough to avoid being scooped into her mother's arms.

Magnus was pretty adept at holding her flailing child, especially when she was this tired. Ashley's limbs were always adorably floppy at this stage, though Helen was sure this was a blessing which would soon pass. She was growing stronger and taller by the day and showed all the signs of growing to an impressive height. Ashley gave a little whine of protest but she was clearly fatiguing, a backwards hand pressed against her eyes as the other flew out and narrowly avoided Helen's own eyeballs as she let herself be carried over to where the grown-ups had been too high up for her to see.

Sitting on the kitchenette stool Helen balanced her blonde baby on her knee in a cuddle and continued her thought. "I mean, he's shut himself away in his room, barely poking his head out to do anything but eat and wander in the grounds I just…" she sighed, pressing her mouth together as she collected her thoughts, letting them distil into what needed to be said, "Perhaps he feels as though he needs to be invited to come down and join us?"

Big Guy gave out a singular, considering 'oh', one eye on the little blonde tearaway as she kept on fidgeting from time to time, staving off sleep.

"It's only… well…" Helen's attention drifted to the door, hesitating as if the little orphan wildling might somehow be haunting the corridor outside. "I still don't think he feels as if he belongs here."

"This is his home now," Biggie stated simply.

Helen looked into his understanding eyes. They weren't going to find a better home for Henry, given the circumstances. He needed the Sanctuary, even though his English had returned and his behaviour had somewhat normalised, but he also needed other children and well… Ashley was the only other child in the entire Sanctuary network at the moment. Besides, Helen had to admit she'd grown rather fond of the rather shy, kind boy for all his troubles. As had Ashley, in fact. It wasn't a question of whether or not he'd find his way to them, or whether the door was always open… it was a question of who would be there to hold his hand. "You're right," She smiled at the Big Guy, reaching over to lightly touch his hairy arm – one of the few gestures they felt comfortable expressing, "Thank you Old Friend."

0

That morning, Christmas Day, when Ashley started kicking and screaming at 6am, demanding to be released from her crib, Helen took her for a little walk down the corridor. Henry's room. She'd always promised to knock before entering. Magnus paused, hand halfway to the door, biting her bottom lip – it was rather early, and she only meant to peek in on him. No, she reminded herself. A promise was a promise. So she did knock, lightly.

Ashley, realising that they'd clearly reached their destination, came back, tugging on her Mom's robe and babbling nonsense in a giddy way. Something about Santa, and snow, and giant ice monsters that Helen didn't pay a great deal of attention to. With no response Magnus gently opened the door, just a crack, popping her head around to see whether he was still asleep. To her surprise he was sat up on the bed, hugging his knees.

"Henry?" she queried, worried that the young boy was upset by something that had kept him awake all night.

His wide eyes glanced up at her, his lips pouting in thought, "Doctor Magnus, ma'm…" she hated him calling her that, but he seemed to have picked it up from some film from the 1950s he and Big Guy watched one Sunday afternoon, and now he said it so much she worried it was more than just a fad. "Would a man really come down the chimney to give us presents?"

Helen smiled wide in relief that it was something so trivial, letting Ashley follow her in before going further inside the boy's rather sparse looking room. "Well…" she indicated, asking permission to sit on the end of his bed and he nodded, giving her even more space than there already was. "Anything is possible."

That sparkle in her eyes, that intrigue always seemed to fix him to the spot… as if he were slightly in awe. Frankly, she wished it worked on Ashley more often, but it seemed her offspring was wise to the Magnus charm and somewhat impervious. Henry, on the other hand, seemed to find a wide-eyed look of hope whenever she let him dream big, or feel a part of something. It was a look she hoped to see for many years to come.

"Yeah but," he almost chided himself for daring to hope, a flip side to the optimism which she hoped to wean him from in time, "I mean, it's weird right? Why would you want to do that? Seems like a lot of effort, just to be giving your toys away… that's all."

He wasn't wrong, Helen smirked, it was a peculiar custom.

"Santa!" Ashley suddenly proclaimed, realising who they were talking about, or perhaps just eager to open her presents. Helen rolled her eyes in good humour – no matter how hard she tried Ashley simply refused to call him Father Christmas.

"Oh hey Ash," Henry kept a wary eye on her as she bobbed towards him making whooshing noises like a sleigh and then giggling in front of him.

"Santa bring presns," she nodded eagerly, "yes he does!"

"Eerr…" Henry threw Helen a look that said 'save me' and Helen picked Ashley up, before she started playing with his hair or pulling his nose.

"I tell you what," Helen proposed, standing up with Ashley in one arm and offering him her other hand, "why don't we go take a look under the tree?"

"Yay!" Ashley cheered, clearly feeling this was the appropriate response. "Tree!" she pointed definitively towards the door, an action that was about as forceful as a punch though she could hardly have realised it. Just as she remained oblivious to the way her mother deftly dodged the movement as if she had always meant to move that way.

"Come on," Helen encouraged with a warm smile.

"Come on Henly!" Ashley parroted, still not quite getting his name right. "Henly come see Santa!"

Henry though, hadn't moved. He was still sat on his bed, eying Magnus' hand and the blonde bundle as if he wasn't sure it was such a great idea. "Why?" he finally asked.

Helen's maternal smile was unrelenting, though she let her hand drop slightly to her side, "Because I don't think you've ever had a proper Christmas…" she said quietly, as sincerely and straight-forward as possible, "have you?"

There was a silence. An awkward shift in Henry's hunched posture as he picked at the sleeve of his pyjamas. "I can't remember," he admitted quietly. So quiet that it tugged at Helen's heart.

"Then," she waited until he would look at her, until he would hear her and understand, "let's go make some new memories."

0 0

At some point Henry had finally accepted Magnus' hand. He matched her steps, following her downstairs and past the giant grown-up tree in the entrance hall to the TV room, as he called it. He hadn't been down here for days, but when he came in it was completely transformed. Inside the dark there was another, smaller Christmas tree, but it shone with bright lights of all different colours flashing cheerfully away. Tinsel and ball-balls reflected the light making it feel warm, and all around was the smell of fresh pine and greenery that made him almost feel as though he were in the thick of the forest.

There was the soft scent of cinnamon, and beneath this beautiful tree… he could hardly believe it – presents. All manner of gifts wrapped in paper and ribbon.

It was worth it. Magnus smiled at the expression on his face, lighting up, putting Ashley down as she realised there was a shadow behind the real fir tree.

"Oh, Oh, Oh," Big Guy revealed himself in full Father Christmas regalia, complete with sack and ridiculous white beard to the trumpet of Ashley's excited squeal.

She ran towards him with outstretched hands, toddling towards him with the delighted cheer of "Santa!"

Henry… had a very different reaction. Bolting for the door faster than Helen had chance to realise what had happened.

"Henry?" She called again into the hallway, "Henry?! It's only…" Sighing she looked plaintively to her old friend, throwing her hands out at her side as he made baby noises at her daughter now swaddled in his arms.

"Oh. Whoops," he grunted, "Let me find him," he started to make for the boy but Helen stayed him with a hand.

"No, no, not dressed like that. You… you take care of Ashley for a little while," she smiled briefly at the little girl's fascination with the white fluffy beard. "I'll go find him."

It took her a while. He'd avoided every obvious place, clearly hiding away in case the Santa-monster returned. She eventually found him in the medi-lab… evidently the one place he would always feel safe, and knocked on the glass door.

"Can I come in?" she mouthed through the door.

He came up to the door, looked either side of her as if assessing the danger and then opened it to let her in.

"Thank you Henry," she nodded graciously, understanding instinctively that he was feeling just as cornered as any abnormal she'd ever had to track. "Are you alright?"

"No!" Henry's voice had gone higher-pitched at that, whimpering as though he could easily cross over from a moan to crying.

Helen crouched down so their eyes were level, "That's fine, that's okay Henry." She calmed, "It was just the Big Guy in a costume. He didn't mean to scare you."

"What?! But why?" he started to come closer to a sob in his confusion, "Why would he do that…" and then it all came out. Those silly, silly tears that he just couldn't help.

"Oh, dear," Helen offered him a hug and when he didn't lean into it she just gave him one anyway, "it's okay Henry," she chuckled against him, "he was just pretending. He just wanted to see you and Ashley smile."

Henry's blubbering paused a moment with a big breath, "He wanted to make us smile?"

"Yes darling," she let him pull away a little, wiping at his tears, "but he promises he won't jump out at you like that again…"

The little wildling seemed to think about that. "Why did he think dressing up so scary would make me smile?" A question he genuinely wanted an answer to.

Helen chuckled, "Oh I don't know. Some children like a little scare…" she made a pretend 'boo' face at him which he seemed to enjoy, "but he probably didn't think you'd find Father Christmas quite so intimidating."

"But, wait? So the Big Guy is Santa?"

The perplexed look on his face was just the most sweetest thing.

"No," she tried not to laugh, whispering the next, "but I think they might be friends."

His face lit up, "Like Spiderman and P… Peter Parker?"

Helen wasn't quite sure who Peter Parker was but she was well aware of Spiderman – it was Spiderman for whom she could blame Henry needing an anti-venom shot earlier this year when he tried to get himself bitten by a 'radio-active' spider, which, it turned out, was just highly poisonous. She sighed a little with an encouraging smile and disbelieving nod of her head, "I think so."

"Cool!"

She chuckled, standing to her full height. He was quite a resilient little chappy really, all things considered. Courageous, for a little boy who seemed to see demons in every shadow. "Do you think you can come join us again? I think he meant to give you something before you ran away."

He nodded tentatively, a beaming smile on his face as if nothing had ever happened.

0 0 0

By the time they got back to the rec room Biggie had gotten changed into a garish Christmas jumper and some slacks that at least made him look a little more like his usual self. He'd stood up as soon as Henry had come in, padding over to them where they stood in the doorway, Helen's hand resting reassuringly on the boy's shoulder.

"Sorry Little Guy, oh."

Henry shrugged, a half-smile letting him know he was forgiven.

Biggie slapped a gentle palm into his head and Henry gave a pretend 'Argh', just like he always did at the Sasquatch's unorthodox shows of affection. The Big Guy chuckled with that warm full laugh, punctuated with grunts, "Oh. I have something. Oh." He lumbered back to the tree, near to where he'd plonked Ashley in her playpen with a cuddly toy she was currently gnawing on.

As he moved away from them Henry glanced up and over his shoulder at Helen with some hesitation.

"Go on," she encouraged, patting him lightly and watching him make that commitment to following the Big Guy back into the heart of the home.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a present was thrust into his face. Henry pulled back a moment, realising he was expected to take the medium sized, slightly awkwardly shaped package from those hairy hands. Realising that it was intended for him.

"Oh," Big Guy hinted… but Henry didn't quite understand. "Go on then," he grumbled, "Oh. Open it." The back of his furry paw thudded gently but firmly into Henry's tiny stomach and Henry made a noise as if it had hurt. Though it wasn't particularly convincing, Helen chuckled as she plucked Ashley out of her pen and let her roam around.

He was looking between Big Guy and the present as if he still, somehow, needed permission. Ashley, on the other hand, needed no such prompting and was steadily traipsing her way over with rather grabby looking hands.

"Oh no you don't young lady," Helen picked her up, much to Ashley's chagrin, "that's not for you to open." She kissed her head and plucked another present from under the tree, passing it to Ashley so she didn't start kicking up a fuss. She gave Henry a meaningful look as the two year old launched into the wrapping paper, "I think she wants to show you how to do it."

The lad gave a nervy grin, watching the little girl he was already starting to think of as family, as she tore at the paper. Slowly he started to follow her lead, his fingers digging tentatively into the brown, slightly unusual wrapping paper to get to the layer underneath. He was soon ripping it aside intently, until he saw the bright yellow text behind the plastic box. His eyes practically popped at the sight, "Star Wars?!" He looked back to Big Guy with absolute astonishment, not really knowing what to do or say, but Helen didn't think she'd ever seen the Sasquatch so happy. Now was not the time to teach Henry some Ps and Qs.

The two of them had watched the entire Sci-Fi saga on TV a few months back when Henry'd been 'sick' – a blatant attempt at avoiding the prospect of school – and they both seemed to have fallen in love with a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Now, in his hands, Henry had a little bit of the action. A coveted Star Wars figurine.

Ashley ambled over at all the fuss, clearly more interested in the shiny package clutched in Henry's hands than her bright yellow Wuzzle - half Butterfly, half Bear. Butterbear, it seemed, couldn't hold a candle to Chewbacca, however, and she was looking increasingly like she might start to snatch.

"Henry?" Magnus tipped her head for him to join her by the tree and picked out a present for him from her.

He grinned up at Big Guy as he reached down to pick Ashley up from her marauding, "Thank you," he muttered, flinging his arms around their hairy friend and basically hugging his leg.

"Oh. Welcome. Oh," he grunted, ruffling his hair and popping Ashley onto his shoulders.

She giggled as he bopped her up and down a moment, leaning back whilst clutching tightly onto his hands.

Magnus beamed with pride as Henry finally ventured towards her, revealing a big box shape with a jaunty motion that had Henry looking intimidated all over again. "This is for you," she insisted, passing it to him.

"Are you sure?" he quivered.

She nodded, hinting with a tip of her head that he should crack it open, as Ashley's pleased gurgled reached her ears.

"Er, oh, Okay," he smiled, sitting down in front of her, as if to share the moment. He ripped and tore at the paper, until he got to the box of... something he didn't recognise… with a really awesome picture on the front of a miniature Motorcycle.

At his perplexed look Helen explained, "It's a Mecchano Motorcycle Henry, you can build it yourself with everything that's in this box… and some tools."

He glanced at her, then back again to the picture, "I can build that?"

She nodded, "Oh yes. It even has an engine."

"Wow," he marvelled at the box with a note of reverence she'd not seen in many, many years.

"So you can build that and… whatever else you like, and not tinker with scrap metal from the laboratories."

Henry looked shamefaced at that, realising that his covert trips to pinch leftovers had not gone unnoticed. He was so embarrassed he couldn't even look her in the eye, much less speak. Then, out of nowhere, he asked "Can I… hug you, please, Dr Magnus?"

Surprised Helen didn't hesitate in her answer, "Of course you can."

He closed the gap between them in a big, all-encompassing embrace, "Thank you," he whispered, and Helen felt that warmth of Christmas all over again.

Author's Note:

I suppose many people presumed Henry was younger than Ashley but, well, taking into account Henry being found in the wild whilst bout 6-8 years old, the actual age of both Ryan Robbins and Emilie Ullerup, I figured this would be something of a misnomer caused by the fact that a) Ashley is Helen's natural daughter and would therefore always feel more like the one "in charge" at the Sanctuary, b) Henry is naturally less outgoing/commanding anyway and would have been trying to fit in. Also, though they are "family" I feel like there was always still this level of respect and distance between Henry and Magnus that wasn't quite there with Big Guy. But well, hey-ho, that's just my interpretation.

7 Swans A-Swimming stand for the 7 gifts of Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, wonder and awe, right judgement, knowledge, courage and reverence. Which I tried to work into this scene so :) hopefully

PS sorry for the late updates I was not only waiting to see if Santa would bring me Sanctuary on DVD so I could make sure I was getting Ashley right, but then my computer had a massive hissy fit and I've had to do a factory restore boooo!