Fic Advent Calendar-Dec. 5 & Dec. 6
When Claire is pregnant with their daughter, Jackie, all she wants is peanut butter. It takes her island cravings above and beyond, to the point where she’s going through a jar a day. And she’s clearly passed this trait on to Aaron, Charlie thinks, because every time he makes dinner (so Claire can relax and stay off her swollen feet), all their little boy wants is peanut butter and jelly. Or peanut butter pancakes. Or, once, peanut butter pasta, which Charlie dutifully makes, but quickly dumps in the trash and springs for pizza instead.
So that year, for Christmas, he buys up everything peanut butter he can find in the grocery store. One giant box filled with jars of chunky, of smooth, of imported, of peanut butter cups, peanut butter cookies, and even one enormous chocolate Christmas tree stuffed to the breaking point with peanut butter cream.
He may never want to even smell a peanut again, but the looks on Claire and Aaron’s faces, well, that makes it all worth it. He just hopes Jackie isn’t allergic to peanut butter. He also hopes she likes almonds instead.
Dec. 6-tellshannon815 -anything Harper's Island
Jimmy buys them a Christmas tree. It’s scrawny and slightly lopsided, just like the one he had at his house on the island, the one he sent a picture of to Abby when she was back on the mainland, scrawled across it in red pen “Wish You Were Here”.
He doesn’t mention the island, their time apart or what happened on that rock that brought them back together. He doesn’t say anything, but the sight of that tree makes Abby smile in a way she hasn’t in months. That smile reaches to her eyes, makes them sparkle, and Jimmy would rush back to that tree lot and buy every misshapen leaning orphan tree he could squeeze into his truck, just to keep that look on her face.
The look doesn’t last long, of course, her eyes dim again and he would swear he could see Henry’s dying reflection staring back at him, just for a second. But that second’s getting shorter, he would swear it, and her smile will get a hold of things again, soon. It’ll just take a little more misshapen magic to put her back together again.