Christmas morning

[1stmacleod]

Connor sleeps sprawled, one foot hanging out from under the covers, recovering from a late-night indulgence of spiked eggnog. It's tradition.
The bedroom door creaks open, a quiet sound of protest that would normally wake him, but it goes unregarded. A figure lingers in the doorway cautiously, assessing him, and then creeps slowly into the room to stop a few feet away. There's another pause, another quiet moment of thought, and then the gentle tugging on Connor's arm begins.
"Dad? Dad?"
He groans, and tries to shake off the touch without opening his eyes.
"Dad? It's Christmas dad! Pleeeease?"
One grey eye opens, and blearily regards the boy. Dark-haired and dusky tan from the sun, John stands by the bed with his best pleading look. He grasps his father's arm again gently, but doesn't pull. The clock reads barely past six A.M.
"I could make you coffee!"
Connor pictures John on a stool at the kitchen counter, spilling coffee beans on the floor and trying to work the grinder. He groans again. "No. Just... half an hour more?"
John says nothing, sinking down to sit beside the bed. He watches his father with a sorrowful gaze, waiting. Connor can feel it through closed eyelids.
"...Has it been half an hour yet dad?"
Connor collects himself with a sound halfway between a groan and a chuckle, rubbing his eyes. Who can be annoyed at a child for being impatient on Christmas morning? He shakes his head a little, bemused, and looks to the side of the bed again.

John isn't there.

This isn't the house in Marrakesh, it's Kairos' home in the mountains in France, and there are no children here to badger him awake, or lead him grumbling in his bathrobe out to the tree, or tear the paper impatiently off boxes of toys.

The clock still reads barely past six A.M. and it's Christmas morning, but the house is quiet, and Connor is alone in his room. He stares blankly at the place beside his bed where John would be, until it's almost half an hour, a real half hour that even the ghost of John won't let him sleep in.

He gets up, after that, because there's no way he can sleep. Regina doesn't mind an early morning walk, and then he makes tea, instead of coffee, because he can do it without letting the kettle whistle or any other noises that might wake Kairos. Then he sits in the living room, looking at Christmas, and seeing other trees and other mornings. When he hears Kairos stirring he's quick to make coffee, and seeing her makes him smile. He's got a girlfriend who loves him, and he's gradually relaxing into a more idyllic life than he ever thought he could have again. Connor is deeply grateful, but he has moments of wistfulness all through the morning and the rest of the day.
Some part of him worries about just how damn much scotch people have given him for Christmas, and part of him worries even more that he'll be drinking a lot of it, tonight.

Comments

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"She can't open her own presents though," Kairos grins, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

"Oooh! Mysterious stranger presents? This stocking is gorgeous," she says, looking at it. And then the stuff inside. "Oh, wow. Yum!"

"Anything I should open first?"

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"...The oranges are from me. We used to get oranges, once in a while, all the way from Spain..." Connor has to pause just a minute for nostalgia, then nods at the boxes he's put on the couch. It looks like they're menat to go together, and inside them she'll find a mini anvil, hammer, and hacksaw, and a plier set. He's been poking around in her studio, but he wasn't sure what she might or might not need. He also knows it's handy to have more than one of some tools.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

She smiles once she's ripped into the paper. "Oh, thank you! I've been meaning to get some new stuff, but.." She shrugs. "Never got around to it. This is great, thank you."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

He smiles a little, too, relieved. Gift giving is so stressful! Those are also the most practical and least meaningful of his gifts, so if she likes those then he's probably free and clear. "I know tools wear out..." Connor shrugs. he's still holding his first gift, not sure if he's supposed to open it yet or not.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"D'you wanna go ahead and open that?" she asks, pointing to the penguin-covered holiday paper.

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

He looks down and takes another gulp of coffee before he sets the mug on the floor, and then unwraps the little package carefully. "There is a package for 'Gina, but I put it on the mantel so she wouldn't rip it up early..." Because he's a sucker for dogs, and when he was getting biscuits for Clark's dog he had to get some for Kai's, too.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

Inside that box are a few well made hand knitted sweaters. "Less from me than from a few of the Way ladies. You are handsome." she says by way of explanation. "I believe they'll fit you well."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

These sweaters don't even have holes in the elbows! He'll wear them anyway. He blushes a little over her explanation, though. "I've... only helped out around there a little... oh god. Really?" He holds one up, but it doesn't hide enough to keep her from seeing his ears are a little pink. "Are you sure they didn't just feel sorry for me? I know I need to get new clothes. Duncan ragged me about it, too."

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

She shrugs. "Well, to be perfectly honest I tend to wax poetic around you. They wouldn't make fun of you, hon. They know it's hard out there." She will, however, encourage him to make a donation to the way.

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

He's probably made a donation already, since he was doing a lot of that around Christmas. The mun just didn't think of it.

"I wasn't worried about them poking fun, it's just... hard to imagine a gaggle of girls being so excited over me they send me sweaters. Through my girlfriend." He refolds the top sweater, trying to get his embarrassment under control. "Or maybe I just don't get out enough?" That's probably part of it. That, and the way he tends to look all brooding and paranoid anyplace he isn't familiar with. He's been at the Way enough to drop that, at least.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

She chuckles. "Well. They're girls compared to you, darlin'. They're a gaggle of old ladies."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"...Oh." He pauses to consider that for just a moment, but Heather was an old woman when she died, and he would have stayed with Brenda and then Alex until they were old women. He's probably ready to stay with Kairos that long, barring tragic accident.

"I guess that's why they figured you wouldn't feel threatened by their... interest?" Those old ladies would probably love to see him now, though, sitting rumpled on the couch with his pajama shirt hanging open unbuttoned and their gifts in his lap.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

She shrugs. "Monogamy has not been an issue in the past. If you so desire to get to know Mrs. Crumplebottom .. personally in the near future, I will not get mad," she teases.

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"Heheheh. I might send her a thank you note." He scoots closer though, and puts an arm around her, and leans closer to nuzzle her.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure she'd like that, cranky old lady she is. Maybe some of your delicious cookies." She likes the nuzzling.

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"I took some, last week, but not for anybody specific. I can make more..." He cuddles for a minute more, then squeezes her and gets up again. "There's something here from April..." Connor brings that one over with a 'I know what this is' kind of smile, and puts it in Kairos' lap. It's flat and rectangular, like a painting. Which it is. Connor's going to be surprised anyway because he doesn't know they're both in it.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"Oh? I feel horrible! I haven't gotten a chance to deliver my Christmas presents yet.." She rips into it carefully, just in case it's fragile.

"Oh, Connor. Look!" Sniffle.

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"You have more to do than me..." Connor's been keeping busier than usual, the last few weeks, but he's still got no schedule to hold to. He watches her unwrap it, and there's the portrait, Connor and Kairos both close together.

Connor blinks and stares a little. "It's... I asked her... I didn't know she was putting me in it. I didn't pose or clean up or anything..."

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. I own a couple of businesses. I could take an hour off." She sticks her tongue out at him.

She strokes a finger along the line of the painted Connor. "And hey, look. She managed to catch you not looking grumpy, sugar."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"You're making me feel lazy." He looks a little sheepish and sticks his tongue right back out at her. "I'm not that grumpy. Not all the time."

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"Don't be silly. You're not lazy at all. But you're cute when I tease you about being grumpy."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

Connor rolls his eyes, but he's had people calling him grumpy for centuries, and he takes it well. It's true, after all.

"You've still got more presents, you know."

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

She grins. "So do you. Why don't you open the big one next?"

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

He gets up and looks over the packages. "Do you want the big one next, or the little one?" The large package that's for him, he pulls over by the couch, as instructed.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"Your choice, handsome! Whatever you'd like!"

Inside that package is a large-breed dog kennel filled with large-breed puppy food and blankets and toys. "I realize dogs like having a den. So when I buy that puppy for you, he or she will immediately have a place to call home."