"It's too bad you had to stay in TexArkana. The gang's all here," She said as she pushed the phone around to show the full house they had here in St. Louis, because it wasn't just Ravit and Kathleen that were with her. No, she had a full house. She was having a little Christmas party.
He nodded. "It looks like so much fun," He said as he sat down on the couch in his living room. "I just couldn't get a train until tomorrow. And who knows how reliable it'll be." She knew that his job was important. He was rebuilding that part of the country. After the Red Rust, it was important that she stay in St. Louis and make a concerted effort to make sure that hospitals around the country had the supplies they needed. She was constantly on the move too. With the government no less. And he went back with Kathleen to rebuild on the land that they had found to be so important to them. That was important too.
Kathleen had an easier time getting away. She brought her charge with her. But Tex was working with the government and they were working right up until the wire. The holiday was just a day sometimes to them.
Rachel found another room where it was quieter and looked at Tex in the phone. She couldn't believe that they were going to miss Christmas together. Well, they could make Christmas happen whenever they felt like it too, though. "You okay?" She asked him.
He nodded. "All I wanted for Christmas was to be with you guys," He said, looking a little sad. It wasn't easy being in this family. They always had to try to find time to be together and the holidays were usually an easy way to get together, but this year, it just didn't come together.
Rachel understood that. "All I want for Christmas is you too, Tex. But we'll get to do it together. It won't be tomorrow on the day, but we'll still keep the Christmas spirit alive for you,"
"I know you will," He said. He heard a knock at the door and furrowed his brow. No one should be coming here this late at night. "Let me go get that," He said, before he put the phone down and went to another room.
Rachel heard some murmuring from the other room on the phone, but couldn't hear anything actually attainable from the conversation. She looked into the other room where everyone was being merry and smiled. It was a good Christmas even if she didn't get the one thing she really wanted.
"Rach," Tex alerted her that he was back. And all of her attention was back on him when she heard it. She picked up the phone and smiled at him. "What was that? More work?" She asked him. He had said that he could be interrupted with work at the beginning of the call. She wished that wasn't the case, but she knew it to be true.
He nodded. "Something like that," He said. "Look, I love you, but I got to go." And with that he was gone from the call, before she even got to say anything. She knew it wasn't personal.
She went back into the living room and smiled as she saw everyone. Kara came over quickly. "Tex okay?" She asked.
Rachel nodded. "Yeah. He just had to go back to work." She said as she looked around the room. "But everyone is welcome to stay. Party. Be Merry. And I have plenty of empty rooms, so if you want to stay here. I think we're doing presents in the morning here anyway," She said as she looked around, some of the guests more sloshed than the others around the huge tree, fully lined with presents, still drinking.
Kathleen came over and gave her a big hug. "Don't give up on Christmas," She said, gently.
"I never do, kiddo," Rachel said as she kissed the girl on the forehead. She was the sweetest little girl to ever really be in her life. It was something she never really got over. Her little girl was now a fully grown adult and doing big things with her dad, like helping with infrastructure and harvesting.
As the night cooled down and more people either left or went to the various bedrooms that were empty, Rachel played a little Christmas music and drank a little red wine. It was a good Christmas. It would be a fun Christmas, that was no doubt. Burke and Ravit even showed them other holidays to spend together too. Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. She looked at the tree and smiled sadly, and then went to bed. She'd have to be awake and ready in the morning.
She woke up to the most delicious smell in the world. She wasn't sure what it was or who was making it, but she absolutely loved it. When she came out in her leisurely pajamas, she saw Kathleen and Ray furiously kissing in the kitchen and chuckled a little to herself. Of course, the kids were excited. She cleared her throat and the two came apart blushing. "I think your confection is done," She said.
Kathleen went to the oven and furiously pulled it out, and she saw muffins. Tins of muffins and she could tell that there was not just one type of muffin there. And they all looked great.
"Where'd you learn that?" Rachel asked as she pointed at the muffins that even had a little crumble on top. These were not your average muffins. These were homemade muffins that a lot of effort had been put into.
Kathleen shrugged. "Maybe Bacon gave me a tip or two," She said as she stuck out her tongue. Rachel laughed. She couldn't help it. She was glad that Kathleen was feeling the Christmas Spirit. She'd need that girl to help keep it up for her father.
Everyone slowly trickled in. First, the people from bedrooms. They were after that beautifully scented confection that made her come out in the first place. Before the people from the outside started arriving, Rachel got into appropriate daytime attire and posted in the kitchen where she could greet everyone who came around without being directly in front of the Christmas tree.
It also helped that she could do a little bit of cleaning as Kathleen had gotten the place a little messy, but Rachel didn't mind. Houses were meant to be lived in and after all, after everything they'd been through with the Red Flu and the Red Rust, they deserved for their lives to be a little bit messy. But that didn't mean that she didn't love cleaning up after them too.
When everyone arrived and she was sure no one was left behind, she looked at the tree and smiled. "Let's begin," She said as she started passing out presents to everyone. Big and small presents, but everyone got at least a couple of presents, because everyone had contributed at least a couple of presents.
Danny and Kara helped their little one unwrap presents and it was adorable. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have a child, but Danny and Kara were great parents. They were doing so well and it was so fun to watch them with their kid.
Ravit and Burke kissed underneath the mistletoe while carrying their presents to a quieter room, where they could no doubt have some personal time. They didn't get a lot of it, because he was on the boat and Ravit, well she was with Rachel all the time, her own personal secret service. Ravit was the only person that she would tolerate for such a thing.
Bacon sat down with Kathleen and Ray and started talking about cooking for the President again. He deserved that after so long of having to create the vats of meals that he'd had to carefully portion out during the Red Rust. It was terrible for him and Rachel truly felt that he was more than that.
Tom and Sasha talked to master chief as they opened their gifts with clean precision and watched after their kids. Everyone was with their kids today, she loved it. Even her. The only person who was missing for this, was of course Tex. She wanted him to see the absolute chaos that had been created, so she decided to call him.
He didn't pick up, which was strange. Even if he could only tell her, he would call her later, he picked up.
She looked over to Kathleen. "You talked to your dad today?"
She shook her head. That was weird too. Tex loved Kathleen more than life itself. And never missed a chance to call her. He certainly wouldn't have forgotten to call her on Christmas. Especially because he knew her. She was up early to make the muffins because she was excited about Christmas. That was something that had been there for years. He wouldn't have missed his chance on this.
"You look confused," Kathleen said.
Rachel shook her head and tried to smile. "Don't you worry about it, hun. I'm just worried about your dad." She assured Kathleen, who went back to Ray and Bacon, talking about who knew what.
The doorbell rang and she looked around. Everyone who was supposed to be here was here. They hadn't ordered anything. And nothing should be coming on Christmas day. They'd made sure of it.
She went to the door. And there he was.
Tex.
And out of breath at that. He smiled and looked at her. "Come on, say something,"
"You absolute scoundrel," She said as she leapt on him and gave him a sweet kiss on the neck. She couldn't believe that he would do such a thing. "I thought you weren't getting the train until this morning. That train shouldn't have been here until this evening." She said, looking at him.
He nodded. "You'd be right." He said. "That train isn't even halfway here yet. But Santa had a little bit of Christmas Magic and brought me to you."
She pulled him inside and pushed him toward the Christmas tree and smiled. "Tex is here!" She said, and everyone cheered and came up to give him a hug. It was probably a lot, but she didn't care. They all deserved a Christmas with him.
After everything was said and done, he looked at her and smiled. "You look happy."
"All I wanted for Christmas was you. And I got it," She said as she gave him a kiss and looked around the room. It was a pretty good Christmas. Everyone was enjoying themselves. There was no disease to worry about and they had plenty of food. It was exactly what she wanted.