12 Days: Day 12: Christmas Paradise - Lorne Parrish (PG)
Title: Christmas Paradise
Series: A snippet from the Keri ‘verse - Post Keri, Pre Panor
Characters/pairing: Lorne/Parrish
Rating: Gen
Word Count: 877
Happy holidays t clwilson2006
Living on Atlantis, David missed a lot of the little things he used to take for granted back home during the holiday season. It went without saying that chocolate topped the list, even when it wasn’t the holidays, chocolate was a hot commodity in the city, a trade good worth more than folks back home could ever understand. But there were other things too.
He missed the scents of December back home. Real pine needles adorning wreaths, garlands and Christmas trees were a visceral reminder to the botanist of the time of year. They put up a fake ‘holiday’ tree on the Gate Room stairs, but it wasn’t the same. Not holding with the cutting of trees, each year back home, he would decorate a small live tree and replant it outside after the holidays.
He hadn’t seen mistletoe or a poinsettia since leaving Earth. And now, with Earth gone for good, destroyed by the Hrsul, he would never smell Christmas again. His world was gone. There were so many things he should be sad for, but the holidays were poignant that year, for everyone.
Rather than cheering him, the sight of fake christmas usually made him sad, seeing the limp plastic replicas in the science labs, put there by the scientists in an attempt to brighten their workplace. He tried to avoid leaving the greenhouses as much as possible during the holidays, so he didn’t have to see it all and be reminded of what he was missing. And now, doubly so. Plastic reminders of what had been lost just depressed him.
His panor’e’ten had noticed his avoidance the previous year and remarked upon it. David tried to make excuses, but eventually he told Evan what was bugging him. Evan seemed to understand and had stopped pushing his keri to come out and be social. Lorne even brought a tray to the greenhouse so they could eat Christmas dinner there.
Since he was avoiding his friends and teammates again this year, David didn’t know his panor’e’ten was up to anything until he turned up at the greenhouse, wearing an elf hat and waving a red bandanna. David had no idea where that hat had come from, but it looked adorable and he was hard pressed to ignore Evan when he urged him out of his chair and into motion.
“Come on!” Lorne prompted when David just blinked at him stupidly and stumbled along.
“Where?”
“Surprise. But you have to wear the blindfold.”
He tilted his head and regarded the red fabric in his friend’s hand. “I dunno...”
“It’s Christmas Eve. You aren’t spending it alone in here again. I promise that there is no fake pine needle smell where we’re going, there are no tinsel trees, and no velvet poinsettias.” Evan smiled hopefully and waggled the hand holding the blindfold. David sighed and snatched it, tying it around his eyes.
Evan took his sleeve and led him out into the corridor and nudged him into the transporter, which meant they could be going anywhere in the city. When they exited, he wrinkled his nose at the slightly dank smell. “Where are we?”
“You’ll see.” Their footsteps echoed in the corridors and David could hear water dripping in the distance.
He heard the swish of a door and he was immediately assailed by the scent of pine. Lorne gently removed the blindfold and David blinked for a moment and then looked around. “Merry Christmas.”
“Evan?” he started forward, one hand going out to touch the edge of a planting table that was filled with a dozen Christmas cactuses. He turned back to see his panor’e’ten rocking on his heels and smirking smugly.
“How?” he walked around a planting bed full of red and white poinsettias and lifted the branch of a small pine tree to sniff at the needles. There were a dozen small trees, a pair of holly bushes, mistletoe and lots of poinsettias. He realized they were in the greenhouse out on the West Pier, the one that they hadn’t been using yet because it was smaller than all the others and set apart from everything else. “Evan, all of this was lost with Earth, how did you do this?”
Rocking on his heels, Evan smiled. “I had a lot of help. Katie Brown and some of the others on your staff gave me tips and helped take care of the plants. We were talking about it and realized a lot of us missed the same things you said you did last year, and we came up with this. Then when E Day came, we realized it was even more important to preserve a little bit of home for everyone. We were having plants sent out on the Daedalus all year before E Day. Since it was initially for you, you’re the first one to see it, but we thought everyone deserved to know about it, later, when you’re ready to share.”
With a wavering smile as he looked around at the holiday plantings, David ran across the greenhouse and threw his arms around his panor’e’ten, hugging him tightly as he whispered, “Thank you, this is perfect. A little Christmas paradise.”
The End
Series: A snippet from the Keri ‘verse - Post Keri, Pre Panor
Characters/pairing: Lorne/Parrish
Rating: Gen
Word Count: 877
Happy holidays t clwilson2006
Living on Atlantis, David missed a lot of the little things he used to take for granted back home during the holiday season. It went without saying that chocolate topped the list, even when it wasn’t the holidays, chocolate was a hot commodity in the city, a trade good worth more than folks back home could ever understand. But there were other things too.
He missed the scents of December back home. Real pine needles adorning wreaths, garlands and Christmas trees were a visceral reminder to the botanist of the time of year. They put up a fake ‘holiday’ tree on the Gate Room stairs, but it wasn’t the same. Not holding with the cutting of trees, each year back home, he would decorate a small live tree and replant it outside after the holidays.
He hadn’t seen mistletoe or a poinsettia since leaving Earth. And now, with Earth gone for good, destroyed by the Hrsul, he would never smell Christmas again. His world was gone. There were so many things he should be sad for, but the holidays were poignant that year, for everyone.
Rather than cheering him, the sight of fake christmas usually made him sad, seeing the limp plastic replicas in the science labs, put there by the scientists in an attempt to brighten their workplace. He tried to avoid leaving the greenhouses as much as possible during the holidays, so he didn’t have to see it all and be reminded of what he was missing. And now, doubly so. Plastic reminders of what had been lost just depressed him.
His panor’e’ten had noticed his avoidance the previous year and remarked upon it. David tried to make excuses, but eventually he told Evan what was bugging him. Evan seemed to understand and had stopped pushing his keri to come out and be social. Lorne even brought a tray to the greenhouse so they could eat Christmas dinner there.
Since he was avoiding his friends and teammates again this year, David didn’t know his panor’e’ten was up to anything until he turned up at the greenhouse, wearing an elf hat and waving a red bandanna. David had no idea where that hat had come from, but it looked adorable and he was hard pressed to ignore Evan when he urged him out of his chair and into motion.
“Come on!” Lorne prompted when David just blinked at him stupidly and stumbled along.
“Where?”
“Surprise. But you have to wear the blindfold.”
He tilted his head and regarded the red fabric in his friend’s hand. “I dunno...”
“It’s Christmas Eve. You aren’t spending it alone in here again. I promise that there is no fake pine needle smell where we’re going, there are no tinsel trees, and no velvet poinsettias.” Evan smiled hopefully and waggled the hand holding the blindfold. David sighed and snatched it, tying it around his eyes.
Evan took his sleeve and led him out into the corridor and nudged him into the transporter, which meant they could be going anywhere in the city. When they exited, he wrinkled his nose at the slightly dank smell. “Where are we?”
“You’ll see.” Their footsteps echoed in the corridors and David could hear water dripping in the distance.
He heard the swish of a door and he was immediately assailed by the scent of pine. Lorne gently removed the blindfold and David blinked for a moment and then looked around. “Merry Christmas.”
“Evan?” he started forward, one hand going out to touch the edge of a planting table that was filled with a dozen Christmas cactuses. He turned back to see his panor’e’ten rocking on his heels and smirking smugly.
“How?” he walked around a planting bed full of red and white poinsettias and lifted the branch of a small pine tree to sniff at the needles. There were a dozen small trees, a pair of holly bushes, mistletoe and lots of poinsettias. He realized they were in the greenhouse out on the West Pier, the one that they hadn’t been using yet because it was smaller than all the others and set apart from everything else. “Evan, all of this was lost with Earth, how did you do this?”
Rocking on his heels, Evan smiled. “I had a lot of help. Katie Brown and some of the others on your staff gave me tips and helped take care of the plants. We were talking about it and realized a lot of us missed the same things you said you did last year, and we came up with this. Then when E Day came, we realized it was even more important to preserve a little bit of home for everyone. We were having plants sent out on the Daedalus all year before E Day. Since it was initially for you, you’re the first one to see it, but we thought everyone deserved to know about it, later, when you’re ready to share.”
With a wavering smile as he looked around at the holiday plantings, David ran across the greenhouse and threw his arms around his panor’e’ten, hugging him tightly as he whispered, “Thank you, this is perfect. A little Christmas paradise.”
The End