Work Text:
A Quiet Christmas
by Ami
"Oh, honey, I'm ho-oo..." Jim trailed off as he came through the front door of what he thought was his loft, but had, sometime in the last five days, been transformed into a Christmas village.
Blair had had a particularly nasty cold, so Jim had talked him into staying him from the station the last few days while he was on stakeout. The detective had taken 24-hour stakeout duty three days in a row so he could take off Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. He hadn't seen his lover since he'd left almost four days ago, but it was the price he paid if he wanted to spend his and Blair's first Christmas together together. And it seemed that while Jim was cooling his heels in a house on Vine St., watching the duplex across the street, his little Guppy had apparently been busy.
"Sandburg, what the hell?" Jim murmured. "I thought you were supposed to be resting!" he called out.
Blair padded through the kitchen archway, which was decorated with red velvet and gold bows, strings of white lights, and real evergreen boughs, and wrapped his arms around his lover. "Hey, Jim, I'm glad you're back. And I did rest, my cold just got better two days ago."
"So you spent those two days buying up all the Christmas decorations in Cascade and putting them up in here?" Jim exclaimed.
Blair blushed. "Well, I guess I did go a little overboard. It's just...I never had a real Christmas before. Even though Naomi and I celebrated Christmas, for various reasons -- no money, no room, no trees to buy -- we never had a tree. And when I was in school, I was too busy to get one."
Jim softened. "Aw, Chief, it's okay. I kinda like it, it's just a bit much. Maybe if we spread the stuff out a little it wouldn't be so overwhelming."
Blair perked up as he saw that Jim wasn't really upset. "That should be easy; I didn't put the tree up yet, I actually wanted to wait until you were home before we bought it, 'cause I wanted to decorate it with you."
Jim smiled. "Well, let me get my stuff put up, take a little nap, and we'll go out, buy us a tree, and pick up some takeout on the way back. I know the Boy Scouts always have some good ones left over, because they're a little pricey. But it's for a good cause." There was a certain tone to the Sentinel's voice that Blair knew was important.
"Jim? You wouldn't happen to have been a Boy Scout, would you?" the anthropologist teased his lover.
Now it was Jim's turn to blush. "Hey, I'll have you know I was an Eagle Scout, best of the best," he defended himself.
Blair shook his head at his Sentinel. "Always wanting to protect, even then, huh? Anyway, you go put your stuff up and lie down for a while, and when it's time to go get dinner, I'll wake you. In the meantime," he said, taking Jim by the arm and steering him up the stairs to their loft bedroom, "I'll rearrange some of the decorations."
"All right," Jim agreed, yawning as he shucked his pants and shirt, climbing under the covers.
"Sleep tight, Jim," Blair said, padding softly down the stairs. He headed back into the living room, wondering what he could move around. He decided to start with the lights -- he'd used them all up on the walls, and unless he took some down, there would be none for the tree.
Three hours later, Jim blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked blearily at the clock. 4:44, he thought. I should be ready to go by five, and we can pick up the tree before they close at six, and then swing by the Chinese place on the way back.
Plan made, Jim climbed out of bed and stretched, wincing as he heard his back pop. "I'm gettin' old," he complained. Then he grinned. "But not too old to nail Blair to the mattress."
He dressed quickly, grabbed his wallet, and headed downstairs, finding his Guide placing some fir branches on the mantle.
"Hey, Chief," he purred, sneaking a kiss onto Blair's turned cheek. "Ready to go get our tree?"
Blair smiled. "Sure, Jim." He threw his arm out to the side, gesturing to the evergreen-adorned mantle. "What do you think?"
Jim grinned. "Very nice, Chief." He glanced around the living room. "And you did a real nice job in here, rearranging stuff. But where did all the lights go? I kinda liked them."
Blair blushed. "Ah, well, I used all the lights I bought for the tree on the walls, so I took them all down. There'll probably be a strand or two left after we get through with the tree, and I thought I'd put them up in the bedroom, but I didn't want to disturb you, so I decided to wait."
Jim grinned slowly. "Well, let's go get the tree and dinner and hurry back. I've never made love by Christmas lights before; should be fun." He waggled his eyebrows.
Blair returned his lover's smile.
"Whoa, back up a bit, Sandburg." The detective maneuvered the Douglas Fir up, seeing the bottom of the skirt brush the floor.
"You want me to lift my end higher, Jim?" Blair grunted.
"Yeah, see if you can raise it another seven or eight inches."
"Okay," Blair ground out, shifting his grip on the thick trunk to raise it higher. "Ah! Got it."
The two men shuffled forward, finally wedging the bottom branches through the doorway.
Blair sighed in relief, dropping the trunk of the tree on the floor and kicking the door shut. "Man! I thought we'd never get inside with that thing. We should have paid the extra ten bucks to get it delivered."
"Nah, the thirty-five we paid for the tree itself is enough to help the boys buy new uniforms." Jim propped the tree up against the wall, flexing his fingers to get the cramps out.
Blair shook his head, laughing. "I'm trying to picture you in a Boy Scout uniform, and I gotta tell you, Jim, you look silly."
Jim scowled at his lover. "Yeah, well, it was a long time ago, a really long time ago. Now, Chief, you wanna help me decorate this monstrosity or not?"
Fifteen minutes later the tree was set up in its stand and boxes of ornaments surrounded them, as well as the strings of lights Blair had taken down that afternoon.
Jim turned to his lover. "Ready to get decorating?"
Blair gave a sharp nod. "Ready."
Less than an hour later the tree was bedecked and bejeweled with ornaments in a blue and silver motif. Aside from the requisite balls (in four different sizes) there were brushed silver stars and some small stone wildlife animals -- panthers and wolves, of course -- plus blue and opaque spun glass spirals and other shapes. Topped by a silver star that Jim had put blue light bulbs in, replacing the white ones, it was a very pretty tree.
Blair sat back on his heels, admiring his and Jim's very first joint Christmas tree. "It's beautiful," he breathed.
"Yeah," Jim agreed, his eyes on his lover. "Beautiful."
Leaning against Jim, Blair sighed. "Yeah," he said softly.
Two hours later the detritus of empty ornament boxes and wrappings had been cleared away. The Chinese food had been heated and devoured, and the Sentinel and his Guided were cuddled on the couch in front of a roaring fire, drinking Blair's homemade spiced apple cider.
"This is nice," Jim murmured into Blair's hair.
"Mm-hmm," Blair mumbled in agreement, half-sleep.
Jim sighed in contentment, snuggling his lover closer to his chest. Removing Blair's glasses, which were sliding down his nose, he placed them on the end table. Settling deeper into the couch, he was content just to revel in the closeness.
Outside their cozy nest, snow was swirling down to the ground. But inside they were warm, and, for the moment, safe. Jim intended to enjoy every moment of it.
Somewhere battles were being fought and wars were being waged. Somewhere cities tumbled, lives ended, planets quaked and heavens trembled...but that night, in at least one small corner of it, all was right with the universe
end