Hello! It is Wednesday and I am back with a new story. It's funny how at the beginning of the year I wrote a list of subject matter that I wanted to tackle in 2021 in my stories and it has taken me almost all of the year to write one about Jordan and Lynne's younger years! But better late than never :D Anyone who followed the anime heavily remembers Misty resentful that her sister's had those dolls from the Princess vs Princess episode while she always had the hand me downs. Shannon and I always thought that Misty never actually went without. Her parent's - especially her Dad's - hestiance to spend too much money, meant she got home crafted things that she would go on to forget about. This story tackles the creation of a doll's house on Christmas Eve as well as some pure, simple Williams' family moments. I hope you enjoy :3
Ages:
Jordan: 29
Lynne: 30
Violet: 7
Lily: 5
Misty (Mentioned): 3
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!
Sometimes people don't realise how loved they are. They don't understand the weight that passers-by would carry just for them. They don't comprehend that their loved ones would cross entire oceans, metaphorical or otherwise, just to see them smile. Sometimes people don't realise how cherished they are, and that certain things are exactly just for them. This is one of those stories. And how wonderful it is that it occurred during Christmas time.
The entire living room was aglow from the Christmas tree standing proudly in the corner of the room and the scent of nutmeg and cinnamon from candles dotted on the fireplace filled the air. There was a distant crackle from the radio along with festive tunes that were being played in the middle of hearty chatter between hosts as well.
However, the man with yellow hair and a tongue poking focally from the corner of his lips could concentrate on only the one thing and the one thing only. He was still resting the ornate wooden dolls house on his lap while he nurtured it in the only way he knew how, nonchalantly mumbling words along to the tunes on the radio whether they were the correct ones or not.
Tenderly, layer after layer of paint covered the handcrafted dolls house, bringing it nearer to completion. But there was a still long way to go and Jordan knew it. This was why he didn't even bother to look at the clock looming on the wall, its own face glowing in the serenity of the living room. Instead, a frown tugged at the brows of the yellow haired man, telling anybody who dared look of how he very much knew that he was running out of time.
Christmas time came around at the same time every year. But there always seemed to be less and less time to prepare for it, Jordan mused to himself as his lips finally took a break from practically breathing out words to merry tunes.
Seeing his trainer growing subtly agitated over just how many hours were passing by and how close he was drawing towards the usual shut-eye territory, an amphibious creature with slimy skin the colour of some of the lights draped around the tree in the corner of the room gave Jordan a studious look of reassurance.
Marshtomp croaked his own name to break the silence. Surprisingly, Jordan looked over at the Pokémon straight away, trusting him enough to keep his two hands around the girth of the doll's house as he had continually been doing before.
An undefeatable smile gracing his lips then, the yellow haired male continued adding a lick of paint with his brush in one hand and with the other, patted Marshtomp gratefully on the head, his black skull fin sliding effortlessly between two of his fingers.
"Thanks Marshtomp." Jordan did a rare thing by speaking words of gratitude as well as showing them with actions. Straight away, the water type Pokémon's eyes became rainbows as he smiled back in return. The hand did not leave him as more words could be heard. "What would I do without you?"
More enthusiastically than the first time, Marshtomp exclaimed out his own name a second time, eyes still like rainbows and his slimy being practically omitting the same light as the tree beaming in the corner of the room and overlooking the scene.
And to show his beloved trainer that he could be relied upon no matter the occasion, Marshtomp's sunny expression was encouraged to fade away as he put forth a concentrative frown in its place, arm muscles flexing before he gripped onto the wooden doll's house tighter. They were going to work together as a team. And they were going to get the task completed well before midnight.
Jordan gathered this message even if it wasn't conveyed with words. His hand slipping away from the Pokémon as well as his smile sliding away from his features, he resumed clutching the wooden shape with the one hand while delicately painting.
Inwardly, he prayed that one of his most loyal Pokémon partner's was correct. He just had to get it completed to utter perfection or else… Well, he didn't allow himself to think what would happen if he didn't succeed.
Lips pressing together in between adding strokes of paint, Jordan knew that he just had to get it done and there was no other way about it.
It was lucky that he had some other hands to assist him during the moments of creation that were more fuelled by pressure than passion. And he sure was fortunate to have someone like Marshtomp who, while he wanted to be there more than anything, he didn't get in the way either.
That was more than could be said for the other creature in the living room on that Christmas Eve!
And Jordan was forced to draw his attention away from what he was lovingly crafting when they couldn't stop their equal enthusiasm to Marshtomp over what was taking place. But they went about it in a way that couldn't be more different.
The water type Pokémon was left being the chief being holding the doll's house as Jordan's fingers instead roamed to his hips, not caring if the paint brush that was being clasped between two fingers licked paint against his jeans.
"Deerling, that is not the berry paint that Lynne likes to make." Jordan hoped that these words would be enough to deter the fawn away from sticking her blackcurrant nose in a particular circle of his paint pallet. "Will you stop that?" he tried a more direct approach. But still, to no avail. The deer Pokémon's nose was now practically the colour of Marshtomp's skin! There were only a few words left to say. "Oh dear."
Marshtomp had a sunny disposition at the best of times and couldn't help but see the funny side of not only the situation but his trainer's carefully chosen words as well. One of his eyes threatened to twitch with amusement. Meanwhile, Deerling could only react to the cold sensation pricking at her delicate nose, innocent eyes widening before they crossed together, mildly alarmed by their new nose décor.
"Deerling…" the brown coloured fawn murmured, her eyes uncrossing after a couple of moments in order to focus on the man who wasn't her trainer in the hopes that he would have some answers and be able to tell them what had exactly happened.
Jordan would be able to find some words all right! For a second occasion in a short space of time, his light blue wash baggy jeans felt the clutch of some fingers, his head shaking as the Pokémon had made a mess – and not for the first time that evening.
"Don't you use that tone with me after I clearly warned you not to do that." he warned once more, not seeing the funny side of it unlike Marshtomp who was continually encouraging his left eye not to sparkle and flicker like the festive lights. Deerling had a chance to hiccup but didn't need to draw back. Jordan had a change of heart. "Come here you dopey thing."
And with that, with a waving gesture of both of his hands, Marshtomp was trusted enough to hold the doll's house for himself on his naturally damp lap while Jordan scooped up Deerling instead, placing the deer creature on his legs instead as he reached for the damp cloth that had previously been used to swipe away any painted errors he made on the inner walls of his creation.
Deerling resisted saying her own name for another time as she was lifted off her hooves but her naturally coy demeanour didn't show up all that much because she trusted that Jordan wasn't the type to get mad. Not really.
Instead, the creature merely blinked as with a lick of his tongue, Jordan damped the moist cloth furthermore and wrapped a firm but careful fist around Deerling's snout before gently swiping away any trace of turquoise blue paint that had been stolen from the pallet, using extra soft touch as he circles around nostrils that were usually the colour of a dark summer berry.
"If you wanted to dress up as Marshtomp for Halloween, you are a holiday or two too late…" Jordan muttered to anybody who was listening as much as himself, his main focus taken up with ridding the creature of the paint before it had a proper chance to sting her nostrils.
He might have acted as though it was to swipe away the paint to be able to make use of it all and not let a single drop go to waste, adding it back to the paint pallet. But anybody who knew Jordan would have guessed the truth.
Again, Deerling didn't say anything and Marshtomp didn't either, twinkles in his eyes fading away for good as he concentrated on keeping as good of a watchful eye on the Christmas Eve creation as Jordan had been doing. It was easy to do a better job than anybody had been doing watching what Deerling had been getting up to!
As Jordan let go of the fawn Pokémon's snout after all of the paint had been swiped away, he started to notice that the yellow dots running up and down her sides were still yellow but a different shade than they usually were. And it wasn't because she was preparing to move into her spring colours very early like Marshtomp naively suspected.
The yellow haired male let out a torrent of wind from his nostrils that might have been able to speed up the process of the drying paint on the doll's house if given half the chance.
"Oh you really, really cannot be trusted, can you?" Jordan taunted, his curtain-like locks flopping over his often jovial features as the damp cloth of his started to brush over the lemon yellow fur of Deerling that was usually more of a sunflower shade.
Rather than growing offended at the words that were being offered, Deerling instead couldn't help but titter and giggle as the cold and wet sensation on her sensitive sides was too much to handle. If she wriggled and jiggled too much, Jordan would end up with a hoof kicking into a very particular place that he couldn't possibly want less!
Thankfully he had enough sense to place Deerling down on the carpet as he finished ridding the Pokémon of any traces of paint for good, even ending that little session by touching her on the end of her blackcurrant nose and somehow not adding another dot of colour to it even though different coloured paints were hugging every inch of his palms and digits.
"Now you stay away and let the experts handle this." He firmly warned. However, Marshtomp knew how an inner tickling of amusement felt within him so knew that he wasn't mistaken when he believed he could feel it silently omitting from Jordan too. That was moved on from as quickly as it had come, though, as Jordan finally glanced at the clock and appeared as though he had stared directly into the blazing sun with the way that he reacted. "We really need to get a jiggle on. Or she isn't getting any presents this year."
Deerling recovered enough from her momentary offence that it was being hinted that she wasn't an expert like the other two were. She might have been the youngest appearing seeing as she was in her first evolutionary form but the truth was that she had been around Lynne almost as long as the yellow haired male.
Fortunately, the brown deer Pokémon knew where it was vital to direct her energy and knew very well that if it made any more interruptions then there would be a very unhappy bunny on Christmas morning. And nobody needed that! Nobody wanted that either. Marshtomp equally as little as Jordan, it seemed.
The blue hued amphibian Pokémon forgot his stoic streak for half a second as he visibly gasped before collecting himself once more, feeling the sea green stare that omitted from his trainer. His own name slipping out from his lips as an apology, Marshtomp secured the doll's house back on Jordan's lap so it could be worked on some more.
Marshtomp trusted that it was a valued member in Jordan's life, shown with actions rather than words. Still, he knew that even during a time like that, he wasn't welcome to clasp hold of a paint brush and start adding swipes of paint to gift for Jordan's beloved daughter. So instead, he did the next best thing by squirting some more of the right coloured paint into the curves of the paint pallet.
And while this occurred, Deerling did the ultimate best thing by curling up in front of the fire and wordlessly allowing the scene to continue unfolding, observing as the time crept later and later into the night and Jordan worked harder and harder as time cracked on.
Marshtomp thought of similar things to Deerling but wasn't nearly as good as forming them all together in his mind. Not like the youthful Pokémon was.
It was miraculous to see how Jordan had turned bits of an old tree that somebody in Cerulean City didn't want in their garden and had sawn it and filed it and crafted it into the shape of a house for dolls. And after he was near enough satisfied with how it had presented itself, more smoothing down of the rough wood had to be done and a layer of varnish needed to clasp to every inch of its wooden skin.
A lot of work before the paint work. And then there was the actual paint work itself!
Both Deerling and Marshtomp might have gone for different colour schemes if they had been doing it but they didn't dare utter this sort of thing, not even the blunt and innocent creature that was the little deer. And truth be told, it was only a difference in taste.
You see, when the wooden doll's house was clasped shut by the little metallic clasp that had only been loosely nailed in to give an impression before that was one of the last things to be done – it looked like the most ordinary little creation. It didn't look like all that much at all. Very modest indeed.
However, when prying eyes flicked the clasp open and got a peek inside, the paint work couldn't have been more tender and filled with love and charming to look at as well. The décor looked like a seaside lollipop of some sort – perfect for a family who spent every waking moment near things that reminded them of the ocean let alone the ocean itself.
And more than perfect for a little girl who clung to every bit of history and every memory and every inner adoration within her of the sea and clung to her father equally as much. The yellow wall and the turquoise wall and the pink walls at the attic level of the house were certainly going to capture her attention. And that wasn't even mentioning the secret passage way that had a wall the colour of a lavender field on a summer's day.
Every shade and every hue and every nook and cranny had been chosen and crafted and painted with nothing but love. Jordan's gift to his daughter. Well, it would be if he was finally able to finish it!
In that moment, Jordan felt his eyes wandering back over to the clock before he forced his eyes away once more, realising that doing that would only slow him down in the long run. He just needed to concentrate and be better at letting distractions roll off him like water off a duck's back.
Still, it became apparent that that was going to be harder and harder to do. Jordan hadn't fully noticed because he was concentrating on keeping his mind in the same bubble of just creating, creating and creating. It was true that he had been murmuring along to some words of the radio humming out but background noise was all that it was.
In the same manner, the noises and the chatterings and the whisperings from other areas of the house weren't fully registering to him. However, they were forced to be fully acknowledged when someone left the quiet conversing noises and the giggles of the same manner behind one door and breezed in through another one.
Deerling's head lifted off her hooves the second that a second person swanned into the room, light reflecting off her irises and not just because of the candles flickering in the corner of the room.
Jordan was so absorbed in what he was doing – and also making sure that he didn't waste more time by worrying what the clock was reading – that he didn't notice Lynne's company joining his until the very last minute.
"Well, that daughter of yours was even more impossible than usual to get off to sleep tonight." Lynne stopped letting the noise of her feet softly slapping against the carpet be the only sound and spoke words instead. Jordan hadn't heard a thing until that moment. Yet he was immediately comforted rather than alarmed, and he remained in this state even while Lynne looked down at his handiwork. "You're making fast progress aren't you, dear Jordan?" she complimented, her body already pressed to his side, merging into him as her hand sought comfort against the strength of his chest. "It's lovely."
Practically breathing in the woman next to him as much as he inhaled oxygen, Jordan took a moment to nuzzle his snub nose against her cheek and feel his sea green orbs giving the fairy lights embracing the tree a run for their money.
But before Lynne could relax and Jordan could lose himself entirely in the company of the love of his life, he made himself see things more critically. He remained ever close to the orange haired woman but his head started to shake from side to side, his yellow curtains hanging around his eyebrows swooshing in unison.
"Not fast enough progress." He answered, wanting to bask in the comfort of his lady a little longer but knew that that would be an even longer distraction than glancing over at the clock as he still longed to do. He encouraged the paint brush in his hand back towards the turquoise wall, adding licks of that shade here and there. "It's going to be a very long evening."
The orange haired woman enjoyed roaming her fingers through Jordan's locks at the best of times but with how they moved and grooved around his face in such a handsome manner, they were practically begging for attention, it seemed to her.
A fond smile tugging at her natural blushed lips, she fiddled with the thin part of his curtain-like front bangs, looking over at him like she didn't want to be looking at anybody else in the world. Even in a room full of people, she would only have eyes for her Jordan.
"It might be a long evening but it will be worth it come morning time." It was effortless for her to comfort him - it was more than just second nature to her. Jordan's forehead felt the softness of a pair of lips for a single moment and then that mouth spoke again; hand on his jaw rather than twiddling with his hair. "Come and have a break." His eyes had been fixed on her anyway but now they were lingering. "The girls would love a bed time story from you."
Marshtomp and Deerling watched onwards from trying not to grow greener than shades of paint that hadn't been chosen for the doll house and saw that although Jordan had been focally looking at his love moments before, it was as if something in the circuit had broken.
His eyes looked away. They took in the only thing that mattered. That time, Lynne didn't feel the same as his locks swung and shimmied around his features.
"I can't." he responded, a paint brush clutched hand raising and rubbing lashes that were already feeling sleepy though it would be a long evening ahead like he said. It was impressive how he didn't accidentally give himself a layer of make up with the paint on the brush or clutching onto the skin of his hand. "I really need to get this done before midnight. Maybe even sooner."
Jordan didn't need to elaborate. His orange haired daughter with Lynne would clamber out of bed at the best of times but most certainly on Christmas Eve when she knew special visitors were expected. And presents to be revealed from behind shiny wrapping paper!
Although Lynne very much gathered this as well and her lips pressed together, conveying exactly that, she then focused on the sensation of air escaping from her nostrils at how quickly he had denied her of what she had been saying. She managed not to swing her own head from side to side and she succeeded in pulling back the words that initially sprang to mind.
She needed to let those go and say something else.
"Jordan…" Lynne only said at first and because he understood this tone perfectly well even if he didn't address it with his own words, he continued looking away, his square jaw appearing all the sturdier in the Christmas tree light. He was surprised to then feel a touch creeping back towards that taut cheek of his. "You have three other daughters, you know." Lynne imagined his eyes swinging towards the ceiling but they didn't alter their stance. "And two of them would like a bedtime story."
Unlike the love of his life, Jordan was less likely to hold his tongue. Anybody who knew him, including Deerling and Marshtomp, saw how often he came out with words just because they had formulated in his brain.
All the same, Jordan did actually give himself a moment of silence and a chance to inhale before he decided to reply back. Once again, the sea green hue of his eyes were lingering on the way that Lynne's porcelain chin perfectly rounded and lead to the most graceful neck he had ever laid eyes upon.
"I know." He replied, causing the orange haired woman's naturally long eyelashes to twitch together out of relief that while his reply was short; he at least didn't come out with any words other than these. At least not straight away. "And all of their presents have been completed a long time ago." His paint crusted hands waved though they did not need to gesture to presents that had long since been wrapped. Lynne's eyes didn't flicker under the tree either. "I really need to get this one done."
And with that, there was something within Jordan that garnered what Lynne's next tactic was going to be so he tried to break the distance between the two of them and look back down at his in-progress creation with the full intention of continuing to crack on with it in the next few moments.
However, in between a single blink, he couldn't help but briefly look back over at Lynne for half a second and that move was fatal. He was right to predict what was next. All of a sudden, he felt the orange haired woman's body merging with his all over again and in the most innocent of ways.
Marshtomp could have sworn that he saw his trainers cheeks flushing a similar hue to the berry red of one of the candles on the fireplace as a grin threatened to tug at his jovial lips at the way that he heard a word being breathed into his ear and a lingering hand seeking refuge between two large muscles of his chest.
"Jordan…" was all Lynne murmured into his ear and at once Jordan knew that it was pointless resisting. Not that he showed it at first! He put up as best of a stubborn fight as he could muster, his pupils then taking their chance to revolve towards the ceiling.
But soon enough, his muscular body began to soften and relinquish and Lynne could feel it from the moment that it began. Her lower lip fell into her mouth but she hid it by taking her turn to nuzzle her nose against the side of his cheek, one hand remaining on his chest and the other trying to wrap around the sizable ball that was Jordan's right shoulder.
"Fine…" he conceded a couple moments after lingering there. And because Marshtomp had been watching the scene so closely, he knew that he needed to take hold of the doll house all over again and set it down on the carpet without allowing any of the paint to leave a kiss print on the fabric. His attentiveness was awarded almost as soon as Jordan's body properly twitched to stand. "Just a short one. Marshtomp, you'll keep an eye on things here, won't you?"
Recovering from the giddiness of the way that once Jordan had hitched himself up with no longer a wooden creation on his lap, his hand reached for the waist of Lynne and pulled her up with gentlemanly speed, the orange haired woman watched Marshtomp utter his name and salute without a moment of hesitation.
The Pokémon was rewarded for this too. He felt a gentle and feminine hand caressing the orange nub of his cheek. And after Lynne felt her Deerling's wide and innocent, thoughtful eyes lingering on her equally as much as Jordan's had been doing some time before, she knew that the Pokémon had to be included in the next affairs.
As well as wanting her beloved friend there with them, she also wasn't entirely naïve to the way that Jordan had wanted Marshtomp to keep a watchful eye on things. She knew how often the fawn got into the paint and the woodwork her life's love!
In the next few moments, however, she wanted Deerling to get stuck into the tenderness of family life. And truthfully, she hoped that for Jordan too.
She tried not to allow a lump to fill her throat before going down and wrapping around her chest when he looked over at the clock as well as an invisible one on his wrist before disappearing down the hall and turning left, into the bedroom of his middle two daughter's.
Some family time wouldn't kill him. Not on Christmas Eve. Not ever. Not when he had tasks to do. He would miss that sort of occasion when they were teenagers and wanted to hear words from boys other than him and to be up late at night because of other reasons.
How heart-breaking that even that twist of fate didn't even have a chance to occur.
But for the time being, however, thankfully Violet and Lily still had eyes for their very much alive father. They had waited with baited breath when they heard someone with heavy footsteps in spite of the night time creeping in but didn't want to get their hopes too up.
Yet they knew that they would be allowed to when Jordan appeared at the doorway, possessing wandering but present eyes nonetheless. They tried not to squeal all that much and tamed their ballerinas feet from kicking underneath the pink and pretty patterned duvet of their single beds.
Even so, they could not stop themselves from breathing out a greeting to their father. And Violet could not stop herself from exclaiming.
"Daddy!" she positively burst out before she was shushed by all of the three other people in the room, Lynne offering the only fond smiling and gentle noise out of the lot of them. Violet was undeterred. She buried her mouth underneath a hem of duvet cover but her eyes were wider and more radiant than ever. "It's Christmas Eve and there is no way that we are going to be able to sleep." She retaliated.
A glance was shared between Jordan and Lynne despite their opposing attitudes towards the yellow haired male being there to read bed time stories. And they thought Misty was going to be the hardest to send off to dream land on that night! There Violet was practically admitting to the fact that sleep was going to be a rare occurrence.
Hands again then on his hips as if they were the comfortable place to seek refuge, Jordan took in Lily's eye roll towards her loud (but not loudest) sister and acknowledged it before his head swung towards Violet, his grip tightening on his hip bones in a wordlessly display of bemusement.
"Well, you're going to have to try." He quipped, his words coming out as a bit of a warning and this made the whites of Violet's eyes become all the more visible. Fortunately, he was quick to break the distance with her bed but he still didn't perch there for a good few moments. "My story is going to be so boring that you'll be begging me to go to sleep."
It wasn't a rare occurrence for a child to look towards their mother for reassurance. And the moment that Jordan said these words and both Violet and Lily didn't know if he was joking or not was no different.
Appearing like an angel in her white festive nightgown and clutching a crooning Deerling close to her chest, Lynne fully perched down on the end of Lily's bed and gave both girls' a close mouthed and crinkled eyed smile.
They breathed out so much that their legs stretched out and relaxed under their layers of duvets to keep warm during the winter months. Violet could have sworn that with those big eyes of hers, she started to see a bit of jokiness in her father's previous seemingly serious stance.
Yet it was Lily to break the silence. And she made sure that she and her older sister were going to get what they wanted with what she said next.
"But we want a wonderful story! A wonderful Christmas one." She put forth her expectations, her feet privately clasping together with hope under the covers and Lynne must have been privy to this from the way that her smile hadn't faded away and she also reached a hand out, soft fingers roaming through pink locks as if it was cosy deer fur.
Lily's thick eyebrows and determined frown towards her father as she told him what she expected softened at the touch of her mother. She grinned at her in such a way that acted like she hadn't been giving Jordan near enough daggers if she and Violet didn't get what they wanted.
Violet felt air rushing to the whites of her eyes but she encouraged herself to snuggle back under the covers, her knees bending all over again to provide some protection from her sister's firm expression.
She felt glad to have made this decision because it meant that Jordan was able to sit down on the end of the bed, even if he took his turn to knit his eyebrows close together and also trace his fingers along the strength of his jaw, that time leaving specs of paint residing there.
"I'm not sure that I know any Christmas stories at all, sorry." He told his daughter's, teasing them in the most monotone voice and rubbing underneath his chin with the topside of his thick fingers.
In those few moments, Lily gave her sister a run for her money with roundness in which her eyes formed. Then, as if this was an entirely unnatural expression for her, her eyes became slits once more and her arms folded under her duvet but it was visible to anyone who took more than a seconds glance over to her.
Lynne continued stroking her hair in the hope of soothing her expression. It didn't work!
"But you must know one!" Violet argued in the least argumentative way, going back on herself and sitting further upwards, peering over her bent knees at her further and searching for a jolt of truth within his own eyes. He shrugged and fluttered his eyes shut and looked towards the ceiling with two hands clasping over his chest. He gave nothing away. "Tell one of Grandpa's at least, then…"
These words slipped out of Violet before she could stop them and at the same time that she slipped backwards against her pillow, stretching her legs out from underneath the duvet but half wishing she hadn't done that second part out of losing some strange feeling of protection.
She regretted not having her legs there as a shield almost as much as she regretted letting these words slip out.
Everybody watched Jordan's expression change, even Deerling. However, it didn't exactly alter that much or all that sternly. His eyebrows moved and grooved around on his forehead for a couple of seconds and his two hands clasping each other over his broad chest appeared to tighten. But then, he surprised everyone by coming out with an answer. And portraying a shrug too.
"Nobody tells his stories quite like he does, Violet." Jordan told his daughter and anybody else listening, surprising the seven year old by speaking right towards her and looking her in the eye as well. She felt the need to duck her eyes away but she forced herself to focus equally as much as her father had been doing when he was painting his sister's Christmas present. "But I suppose I can think of one that I heard a very long time ago. About two young men who set out to stop Christmas."
Violet sure was glad that she hadn't looked away from Jordan after all. And Lynne was thankful that she had Deerling to draw close to her chest because she loved nothing more than clutching something near to her while peacefully listening to whatever story that Jordan would concoct.
Lily, on the other hand, saw right through even these words of her father's – let alone the story that he would go on to tell. Like Violet, she sat further up but she sent a confused frown Jordan's away instead while her feet continually clasped together.
"Why on earth would anyone try and stop Christmas?" she questioned, mimicking the way that he had spoken some of his words in particular.
It was rare for Lynne to look disappointedly at anybody. And it was even rare for her to interfere when there was no need to. So because of what she would go on to do, it became apparent that she felt appropriate to do so.
Though she touched the top of Lily's pink scalp, that touch soon fell away when the five year old's eyes wandered right to her and with a soft shushing noise, the side of her pointer finger brushing against her lips as she got that universally known message across.
Lily didn't have the heart to scowl at her. But she unfurled her feet like she wanted to add distance between her and her mother.
Meanwhile, the hurriedness of Jordan's answer made it known that he didn't know why he was bothering to tell stories to such a displeased audience.
"Because they thought it was unfair that Santa only delivered presents to children who could actually write their own letters!" his voice accidentally copied the volume of Violet's when she first greeted him and Lynne needed to go on to tell him to be a bit quieter as well. However, this was of course done with a soft look and relaxing against the plush of her daughter's mattress beneath. Jordan cleared his throat following his outburst. "Girls, do you want to hear this tale or not?"
Violet and Lily's eyes searched for each other. Deerling half expected Lily to remain snooty after her telling off and Violet to appear desperate as she had been so very delighted at the presence of their father. But she was stood correct and the orange haired woman was too when the whites of their eyes wordlessly communicated that they were on the same page – they were both curious enough to hear Jordan's tale in its entirety.
Their heads swung away from each other and back towards that same father of theirs before switching their action, their heads bobbing up and down in perfect timing as if they were performing one of their water ballets.
This was permission and this was clear enough permission. But, Jordan being Jordan, he waited until he received the best one of all. He waited until he received not only a nod of the head from Lynne but a smile from her as well, her hand that had previously been wrapped around Deerling then resting over her heart in an intrigued manner.
He knew that he could not resist her at the best of times. And certainly not on Christmas Eve. So he begun. His tale was told.
Violet and Lily and Lynne and Deerling too and of course me in hindsight heard about the two boys – one with hair the colour of one of the sunniest days in Kanto and the other with hair as dark and deep as flowers at the bottom of the garden – and how they decided that Christmas just wasn't as fair as people believed.
It wasn't right how only children who could write and children who had enough freedom to be allowed to write were blessed with presents. It seemed that everybody should at least have something. And if everybody couldn't have at least something then everybody should have nothing.
So on one Christmas, they set out to do exactly that. They snuck out to the letter boxes every single night beginning as early as the day after Halloween and they broke them open between them, stealing and hoarding each and every letter. They would never make it to the furthest north point of the regions if they did that!
They believed in their mission wholeheartedly. They believed that they were doing the right thing. One of the two boys, the younger of the two, was especially clever in his own way that he would run in the early hours of the morning after a very late night letter pinching and use the library computer, being the first user of the day.
And as he stared with wide eyes at the screen and used his fingers against the key pad, he sent notices out all across the region to send their letters to a specific address in Johto, for that was the jolly man dressed in red's new address.
People were puzzled to be sure, Jordan told Violet and Lily, but no one dared deny the magic of Christmas. So that was how the two boys ended up with everybody's letters! That was how that year, people learned to appreciate the magic of Christmas not by gifts and getting exactly what you wanted, but by being treated by those who really knew you and really loved you. And if they couldn't afford to do that with physical gifts and the money that bought them, they could do that with time and company shared.
For the whole world, it really was the best Christmas they had ever had. And they didn't believe they would ever spend it in the old way ever again.
"Oh but that is just silly!" Lily broke the silence that rung out following her father's story, the way that she had been snuggling then against the side of her mother who was at the edge of her bed while Deerling curled up, asleep, at the end of it, greatly contrasting her words. She had practically been lulled to sleep with it all before she decided that it didn't make sense. "You can't have a Christmas story without Santa's Stantlers! And the boys would need to borrow them all to succeed in their mission, of course."
Lily started to sit practically straight up following lulling against her mother, Lynne's fingers nonchalantly and dreamily running through her hair while she too listened. Jordan had expected her daughter to have some proper issues with his story so this was a bit of a pleasant surprise!
Showing off an invisible fish hook in his eyebrow that she had answers back for him all the same, he hid his tugging sensation of a smirk that wanted to form that she at least thought for herself. Even if it was often at his detriment!
It wasn't Jordan, however, who got to defend himself first. Violet who had been lazing against her pillow equally as much as her sister had been doing to their mother, she peeped out from the layers of blankets and from having her legs nonchalantly resting on Jordan's lap to which he didn't react to while he lingered there, telling stories.
Violet's pillow grooved back against her after she shrugged.
"But the Stantlers would never turn their back on Christmas so. They might have done that to the red nosed of the herd but they never would do that to Santa." She told her sister, putting across a point of view that she hadn't thought of before. Lynne watched as Lily wasn't used to Violet being the logical of the two of them and so wrinkled her snub nose. "And they definitely wouldn't help out two random little boys."
The deep violet haired of the two little girls in the room stopped looking over at their sister informatively, then looking over at their father with an expression that seemed to say 'right?'.
Jordan's hands had unclasped from being over his broad chest a good while ago at that point. But still, hands on either side of him as he perched on the bed, he shrugged his shoulders, privately trying to hold his tongue and resist telling Violet the boys weren't just two random ones and they weren't little either!
But then, Jordan would go on to feel glad that he didn't jump and go along with his urge of saying the first few words that popped into his mind. You see, he suddenly figured that he could use this to his advantage.
Violet and Lily and Lynne too were a bit taken aback when Jordan's hands clasped over his chest once more but this time, it was accompanied by the fluttering of eyelashes and a bit of a flamboyant head gesture, curtains of hair flopping around.
"Well… I think all of that can be something to ponder while you drift off to sleep now, can't it?" he offered them. And from the minute that his position twitched on the end of Violet's bed and he began to stand back up again, they knew that they had been massively played. They groaned! Jordan did not bother to hide his mischievous grin pulling his mouth wide. "Such things to ponder. You'll be asleep in no time and then you can tell me what you discover in the morning."
They couldn't believe how they could have possibly led themselves into that trap! There was no point in looking at each other. It was no use. Even the two of them had to accept defeat.
Thankfully on that Christmas Eve and at least for a little while yet, they had their mother to depend on and while the jovial side of Jordan's nature was making an appearance as his arms fully folded over his chest, clasping himself.
Lynne couldn't help but feel on the side of all of them in those moments and the line curving up her mouth and the crease between both of her brows was out of amusement as much as it was for sympathy. She lifted herself off the bed too, leaving Deerling dozing there and at least out of mischief.
The orange haired woman's bottom moved away from the comfort of a mattress and forgoing her hand from placing over her heart, she addressed both of her daughter's instead. A hand each gestured out to each of them while their gazes immediately went to some level of comfort and correction of the situation from their mother.
That was to no avail as well.
"Sit up for just a moment, girls, and open your arms wide so Daddy can say goodnight." She encouraged, briefly stepping away from the beds before moving over and smoothing down Deerling's fur while she slept so they knew that she would get one in afterwards. Her winter laced smile did not falter. "I'm sure that he wants to give you a big Christmas Eve hug and kiss."
Lynne's eyes wandered over to her Jordan. She missed the way that for just a moment, the girls wondered if they wanted to do this at all from the way that they felt they had been robbed!
But deep down, of course they did. They were long away from those missed teenage years. They wanted nothing more than to be in the embrace of their father. There was a reason that the orange haired woman had chosen the words that she had said, it seemed. For a good few moments, it appeared that Jordan didn't feel the same way as Lily and Violet.
The yellow haired male's arms were being used up by hugging himself before they sprung free, waggling and gesturing to paint covered hands.
"Oh, you don't want any of the sort from me." He began and Lynne was not naïve to the practical twitch that encapsulated the two young girl's limbs as they felt that they would be made redundant after all. "I could get paint all over the two of you. Or worse, splinters from the way that I've been working with wood for months." Jordan bluntly pointed out. Even he had to hear the silent, single syllabled word that practically rang out between the two girls.
Surely even he had to notice how dejectedly they slumped back against their pillows, face giving the snow outside of their windows a run for its money and their shoulders threatening to bury into their ear canals, that's how close they were drawing towards their lobes.
For once, Lynne was speechless. For a rare occasion, her mind couldn't work out how a sweet offering like that could turn out like that. Her neck twitched. Her head didn't have the chance to fully shake.
"Deerling…" the Pokémon breathed out in her sleep, her head lulling on her bent front hooves and seemingly smiling as they snoozed. At least that gave the girls a bit of a smile. At least that gave Lynne a bit of softness too.
And it didn't stop there. For an innocent Pokémon, I feel like in hindsight it knew exactly what it was doing. Deerling didn't just give the girls something to smile about and Lynne a reminder that softness was still there either.
In that split second, Jordan's heart wholeheartedly changed and his voice came out booming in a desperate attempt to make up for his mistake.
"You are so wonderful, I don't want to ruin you with these old things." These words threatened to come out a touch phony. But he had a second attempt. And as he already went down on his knees and shuffled on them towards the meeting part of both of the beds, his sincerity was quickly shining through. "Please give me a big hug. I would like that."
The word 'love' didn't escape from Jordan but that was fine. Even at those tender ages, things could be made up for them quickly and after a reassuring, not to mention forgiving smile from Lynne to boot, both Violet and Lily opened their arms wide to go on to squeeze their father.
And squeeze him they did! They copied some of his natural strength. They kissed him on the cheek. And gave him more strength than they ever realised.
"Happy Christmas, Violet and Lily. …" he mumbled into Violet's ear for the both of them after he had hugged Lily too before he wandered his way towards the doorway, managing to refrain from clasping his arms around himself but one arm disappearing into the collar of his jumper as companionably, his shoulder bumped against the wood of the frame. That light gaze of his started to appear one last time. "Night night. Don't let Santa Claus bite."
And everything that had occurred moments before was a thing of the past, buried like the grass underneath the snow that was covering the region of Kanto during that particular Christmas. Violet and Lily did not copy Jordan's countenance because it was put forth to them. It was simply natural for it to occur back in response to his words.
Lily's shoulders pressed firmly against the pillow and ready to sleep after her embrace, she managed to at least point one thing back out to her father.
"Shouldn't that be the Stantler doing the biting…?" she wondered, her eyes the complete opposite of her sisters at the best of times but certainly in that moment, becoming slits of a different quality as she succeeded in the last battle against sleep.
She could not fight a yawn, however. She let this slip and then Violet did too. Lynne made sure that all of the lights were off and they were firmly tucked in bed, her hand swanning across their foreheads before joining Jordan at the doorway.
Her shoulder touched his other one that wasn't bumping against the wood frame of the doorway at the moment that he replied to Lily, a squint of his eyes and softness in his voice saying another goodnight a good few seconds before he actually uttered this all over again.
"Them too." Jordan didn't bother to argue with Lily or correct her. His fingers touching briefly on the dimmer switch of the bedroom light to check it was properly off, he turned on his heel for good. He was halfway out into the hallway and the door had softly fallen closed by the time he found his last goodnight. "Sleep tight…"
He spoke. Then that was that. He was free to go back to what he had been longing to do the whole time. But to tell you the truth, the break was much needed as well. It was good to disperse his attention a little bit. But now he needed to get down to business. And he really needed to get finishing! He knew that he only had a few hours left at the most.
Jordan didn't appreciate it at the time and he only noticed that Deerling had been left in the bedroom of his daughter's overnight once he had joined Marshtomp back by his side and sat cross legged with his pal, the doll house being perched back on his lap once more. Marshtomp had been holding it for him the entire time!
A pat on the head was spoken of gratitude. Then, a quizzical, contemplative look occurred as Jordan started to wonder what had happened to the pesky deer Pokémon,
Lynne swanned behind him and with a hand hooked around his arm and a chin resting against his shoulder from behind, she informed him.
"Dear Deerling is best left with the girls, don't you think?" she began, immediately garnering an expression from Jordan that said he didn't think of the creature enough to know what was best! Lynne's next words proved otherwise. "I saw the paint splotches that you got all over her. I think the both of you are best kept apart." Lynne grinned from behind Jordan's shoulder, her mouth hidden behind there before she planted a kiss to it too, asking him after he couldn't help but experience the same feeling curving up his own mouth. "Do you want me to tuck all the little doll people in their beds so she can at least wake them Christmas morning?"
Though Jordan knew in his heart that it would be even more tempting to look at Lynne as she lingered with him yet again rather than the clock on the wall, he knew that it was a race against time and so he started adding more licks of paint, Marshtomp looking on and being there for anything that he needed.
All the same, he answered her. And the swooshing that his hair curtains displayed showed what his answer would be long before it actually came, yellow paint being filled in at the edges of the bottom floor of the doll house.
"There are no doll people yet. I want Misty to make them with me or create them by herself. She should have who she wants in her house." he answered, the smile that he gave Lynne in the second pause of doing what he was doing for nothing other than need and certainly not for show. Marshtomp croaked admirably. He didn't realise it would be turned towards next. The yellow haired male's other hand moved towards his belt, enlarging the Poké Ball there. "One of us at least should get some sleep, buddy. We'll all see you in the morning. Merry Christmas."
Marshtomp had a moment to croak, confused. And then all he had was a chance to croak earnestly. The red laser beam of light overtook him and he was able to seek refuge in his Poké Ball of solace. His loyalty had been so treasured. But like Jordan said, at least one of them should be sleeping when the jolly red man arrived.
Lynne found herself nuzzling Jordan all over again, resisting her own displays of tiredness and playing with the collar of his jumper from behind while she lingered there. Then her cheek loitered against the back of his shoulder.
And she couldn't resist speaking to him, her eyes fully shining with love at the words that he had said about their daughter as well as how much he cared for every creature that entered his life. He would never know that he kept her alive equally as much as she did for him.
"Are you sure you don't want to just finish this in the morning, my love?" Lynne offered, already understanding the way that his body was beginning to twitch would be his way of going on to decline. Her arms wrapped tighter around him. But her pressure to comply was somehow less suffocating. "It looks wonderful already. And Misty would understand."
These words tumbled out from Lynne and she didn't see the funny side of them. Not until Jordan's being from the inside out twitched for a different reason. And not until he actually took another second or two's break from the final touches of his creation, turning around to face her while she continually lingered behind him.
The look that he gave her spoke everything without even needing to! But alas, her eyes were practically as wide and as innocent as Violet or even Deerling's.
Jordan's words would have to go on to explain why he was looking at her in such a way.
"That daughter of ours understands a great many things but certainly not having to wait for presents, my sweet." He answered back at her, for a moment Lynne's widening of eyes being continual naivety before they oozed and softened at the pet name that had escaped from him too in return. She was then surprised to feel a hand of his brushing against her cheek. He was done with painting for a few seconds longer than either expected. "You should go and get some sleep too. Otherwise Santa won't come for you either. And-" he couldn't finish that sentence. Instead, another word came. "Oops."
Lynne wondered what had happened. But it became clear when Jordan's singular cheek pouched together and his eyebrow buckled and his hand started rubbing on her jawline, attempting to smear the pink paint away from her skin. But he made it worse!
If mother Christmas had a blush coloured beard then she would have to get into costume immediately.
The orange haired woman started to understand, her nose crinkling and giggling at the way that her Jordan was so vehemently trying to get the paint splatters away from her face even if she didn't mind. She voiced this.
"It's not an issue to me…" she told him, attempting to reach for his hand to hold it instead, so it didn't have to be used to wipe and smear all over her cheeks. He gave her a look that spoke that it was an issue to him. And then he went on to remove it in an unusual way, his nose scrunching in return and trying not to laugh too loudly as he nuzzled her, kissing the paint away. "And it seems to be not an issue for you either."
Jordan planted kisses on his love's cheeks, both of them even though the paint was on just the one side. And then he rested his forehead contentedly against hers, seemingly forgetting the clock on the wall and the impending Christmas deadline for just a few moments as Lynne's fingers absentmindedly wandered to his lips, lingering there.
The way that the yellow haired male's eyes threatened to twitch shut spoke of just how much he wanted to succumb to relaxation and just stay there, with her and doing nothing and just wasting time as the clocked moved towards midnight.
But when he set out to do something, he always did it. And he had to get there, removing all obstacles in the way.
"Now go to sleep. Please." He told Lynne after a few minutes, pressing kisses to her fingers that loitered near to his lips, planting the paint back there that he had removed from her face but not seeming to mind it clutching to there. For a second or two, his forehead still didn't leave the comfort of hers. "You're my greatest distraction and I love that. But I need not to be distracted tonight. So goodnight."
And with that, Lynne's lower lip fell into her mouth all over again and she wanted nothing more than to linger with her forehead against Jordan's, relishing his company in the moments before and especially with the words that he said.
But she knew not to get in the way of a man with a mission. And certainly not to get in the way of the man she adored more than life itself.
Breathing out from her nostrils in a manner that spoke the entire world's capacity of comfort and enjoy, she was finally able to pull away from her love. But not until one last thing. After she had stood to her full height and briefly pulled Jordan by the ear against her stomach as one last embrace, she then traced her hand along his jaw and told him.
"You're magic, my dear Jordan. On this night and every night." She affirmed to him, her hand sliding from the corner of his face and close to his ear to underneath his jaw, cupping the strength of it as if he was a little boy who needed nurturing.
And as if he was a little boy but one that was melting under compliments, Jordan couldn't stop the rose blush from warming his features. He grinned in return to Lynne. And he so wanted to say words. To say words that were equally as heartfelt as the ones that she had bestowed upon him.
But in the end, all he could do was do things in his own way. That was all he could ever do. That was all anyone could do.
Before his love left, he made sure to take her by the hand and he placed a kiss to the top of it, his thumb lingering over hers as the light of love was in his eyes and it captured at his throat with the simple word that he spoke in return.
"Goodnight…" he told her and that was that. That was his way of saying everything. That was his way of getting it across. For such a loud and jovial man at times, he was also a man of few words. But when he spoke them, he really meant them.
And he really meant them on that night. He especially meant to say goodnight! Glancing at the clock and finally having half a second to groan to himself, he made the most of allowing himself to make that noise. And then he cracked on.
He was going to get it done and he was going to get it done well. There was no way that Daisy, Violet and Lily were going to wake up to their home made presents but not Misty. And there was no way that he was going to let a Christmas pass by without that little lady of his understanding just how treasured she was by him.
He treasured times that he created for her, it was true. But on that night, he wanted to get it over and done with! But he wanted to do that so he could fast forward to the morning and see her little face when she tore away the dust sheet and saw what he had made for her.
That was the last thing on his mind before he set to one last segment of work. And that was the last thing on his mind that entire night. You see, it really did end up being good night. For Violet and Lily. For Lynne. For Jordan too!
In the early hours of the morning, you see, when Lynne crept out of bed upon realising that her Jordan had never made it there and also wanting to check everything was just so for Christmas morning, she found a sight that no Christmas card print would ever be able to replicate. No other gift on the tree would have given her the feeling of the sights that she saw.
There Jordan was, still in a sitting position but bent over the doll house, practically hovering over it, paint brush still in hand and looking as though he was doing the hardest work of his life. He was. He had been. But he was then asleep.
He had fallen asleep on the job. And what a sight it was.
A hand quickly fell to Lynne's heart as softness melted in her eyes. Immediately, she knew that that was quite a sight to behold. But she anticipated that the one in the later morning would be even better. And she was right.
It was true that Misty hardly ever resisted the joy of a present. But on Christmas morning when she toddled out of her bed and followed her sisters to the living room and intended to find the presents on the tree, she discovered something better. And instead of making a beeline for the doll house perfectly created for her and in her father's hold, she ran straight towards her father instead.
The doll house was meant to be the greatest gift of all to her young self. But it was made pretty redundant compared to the man lounging over it. In truth, she wanted nothing more than to be right there, with her hero. And that feeling never really went away.
Other feelings would come and go in her life. Other emotions were fleeting. But the adoration for her dad was a fixed one. She carried it on that Christmas morning and every Christmas morning after that, whether he was there or not.
I started this story thinking of Misty when I described people not knowing how much they are loved. But I end it thinking of Jordan. Another person so filled to the brim with peoples love. Sometimes it wasn't enough. Sometimes it was too much. Nowadays it's a happy medium. Whatever the case was, he always outpoured nothing but love to those around him.
In his own way. Whether it was loud. Whether it was quiet. Whether it was said through open arms. Or it was said through the word 'goodnight'. His love couldn't help but radiate. And that is what Christmas is about, isn't it? We spend so much time thinking of gifts for others but the real gift is each other's presence.
And I know wholeheartedly that I wouldn't want to spend any of mine without my lot. Through it all. No matter what. Christmases come and go. But the memories last forever. Just like this one. The doll's house is long tossed aside. Vaguely remembered, and waiting to be discovered again. Yet the tale is alive. On this Christmas. Like it was that Christmas. And as it will be on the next Christmas. Forever.
You can't erase memories no matter which new ones come along. Unlike the thick white snow, those kind of things are for good. And that is the greatest miracle of all.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) A bit of a long one today! But I suppose I wanted the one story to give an idea what it was like growing up in the Williams' household. Jordan and Lynne's adoration for each other. The home made gifts. Jordan struggling to connect with Violet and Lily. Of course, with regards to the latter, I didn't want to cover it too much because it is a Christmas story. But it had to be hinted at. And maybe I'll go further into it in 2022! I enjoyed adding Jordan and Lynne's Pokemon in this chapter as well. I feel like it made it a bit more anime-ish, while retaining the kind of stories I enjoy tackling :3 Thanks again and I will be back again on Wednesday with another Christmas story so see you then!
Amy signing out :)