[ficlet] Jeeves & the Christmas Carousel
Title: Jeeves and the Christmas Carousel.
Fandom: Jeeves and Wooster.
Rating: G.
Warnings: None.
Pairings/Characters: Jeeves & Wooster. :)
Word Count: 837 words.
Summary: Decorating the Christmas tree ends in a minor disaster.
Note: This is the third of my Christmas gift fics, and this one is a specific gift for beetle_breath, who wanted gen J&W fic. :3 I haven't written for this fandom in ages, so I hope it makes for decent reading.
Merry Christmas!
---
"Say, Jeeves?"
"Yes, sir?"
"These ornaments here - they don't seem to want to stay up, do they?" Bertie poked at the branches and tried moving the surprisingly heavy ornament back along the branch. It was a little statuette of a Santa Claus playing a violin, and it's one that's been in Bertie's box of ornaments for as long as he can remember.
"Let me try, sir," Jeeves said as he moved the Santa Claus to another branch and setting it back on the wood just enough to keep it from falling. "Is this preferable?"
"Perfect, Jeeves, thank you." Bertie smiled at Jeeves, then tried adjusting the other troublesome decoration: a hanging carousel with painted horses. It's old, however, and the paint was beginning to chip.
Bertie fiddled with it, then stepped back cautiously, watching to see if it would fall, and for a moment it didn't, hanging precariously on the branch.
Then it did, and before either one of them could catch it, it had reached the floor. One of the horses fell out of the chipped thing when Bertie carefully lifted it, and he winced to see the cracks in the wood.
"Oh damn," Bertie said, the curse falling from his lips almost unintentionally. "Not this one..."
"May I see it, sir?" Jeeves bent down and took the damaged ornament from Bertie, looking over the cracks.
"It's ruined, isn't it?" Bertie asked, sighing. "Poor thing. Toss it out discreetly when you do, Jeeves - the relatives would flay me to see it damaged."
Jeeves looked at Bertie, wordlessly asking for an explanation, even as Bertie handed him the horse that had fallen from it.
"It used to be my great-grandfather's favorite decoration, when he was a young lad." Bertie shook his head. "I should have left it with Aunt Dahlia, instead of insisting that I could show it here."
Jeeves opened his mouth to say something, but Bertie interrupted.
"Say nothing, Jeeves, this is my own fault, and I'll bear the shame of it. I'll break the news to her after the holidays, and if the question is bandied about, I've decided to leave it in storage for the season." Bertie sighed dramatically, but there was a real touch of sadness to his tone that Jeeves paid attention to.
"Very good, sir," Jeeves murmured, examining the carousel with a thoughtful look.
---
The question, fortunately, was not bandied about as Bertie feared it might have, and Mrs Travers' brief visit before returning to Brinkley Court passed peacefully. (Odd as a peaceful visit was, Bertie found that he rather liked an adventure-free visit.)
Nothing more was said of the broken carousel until some days later, on Christmas Eve after all of Bertie's guests had returned to their homes. There was a fire crackling away in the fireplace, and the remnants of a successful party littered the floors.
"Jeeves, leave the mess alone and come sit, will you? Oh, don't give me that look. I just want a quiet moment by the fire before I hit the hay."
"I understand. Would a mug of cider be unwelcome, sir?"
"Oh, not at all."
In short order they had mugs of cider, and Jeeves was seated for one of the few times that evening.
"I can't help but think of that carousel I dropped, Jeeves. Pleasant as this season has been, I don't like how ill-timed that fiasco was."
"What time is it, sir?" Jeeves asks, earning a strange look from Bertie.
"Just after one in the morning, I believe. The party ran longer than I expected it to, but I couldn't just turn Tuppy out without some sort of escort..." Bertie trails off as Jeeves stands up, leaving the room for a brief moment. "Jeeves?"
"I had planned for this to be a surprise for tomorrow, sir," Jeeves says when he returns, a wrapped gift in hand, "But now seems a fitting time to give you this."
"...a gift for me? Jeeves, you didn't have to - "
"Open it, sir," Jeeves says, and places the gift in Bertie's hands.
Bertie looks from Jeeves to the wrapped gift and back again before opening it slowly. It's heavier than it looks, and when the wrapping paper falls away, it's -
"I - It's my grandfather's carousel! You fixed it? How, Jeeves? I was sure it was wrecked for good!"
"I am acquainted with a carpenter of some skill, sir, and he assured me that he could put it to rights by today."
"...thank you, Jeeves." Bertie says then, as he's not sure what else to say.
---
When Bertie rises the next morning (afternoon, really, but a Christmas morning is a morning whether it's eight in the a.m. or two hours after noon) there is a familiar carousel hanging on the tree.
When Bertie looks at it more closely, he sees that the paint has been touched up as well, and Jeeves says nothing when Bertie points this out. He says nothing, and instead rings the bell for breakfast.
---
Fandom: Jeeves and Wooster.
Rating: G.
Warnings: None.
Pairings/Characters: Jeeves & Wooster. :)
Word Count: 837 words.
Summary: Decorating the Christmas tree ends in a minor disaster.
Note: This is the third of my Christmas gift fics, and this one is a specific gift for beetle_breath, who wanted gen J&W fic. :3 I haven't written for this fandom in ages, so I hope it makes for decent reading.
Merry Christmas!
---
"Say, Jeeves?"
"Yes, sir?"
"These ornaments here - they don't seem to want to stay up, do they?" Bertie poked at the branches and tried moving the surprisingly heavy ornament back along the branch. It was a little statuette of a Santa Claus playing a violin, and it's one that's been in Bertie's box of ornaments for as long as he can remember.
"Let me try, sir," Jeeves said as he moved the Santa Claus to another branch and setting it back on the wood just enough to keep it from falling. "Is this preferable?"
"Perfect, Jeeves, thank you." Bertie smiled at Jeeves, then tried adjusting the other troublesome decoration: a hanging carousel with painted horses. It's old, however, and the paint was beginning to chip.
Bertie fiddled with it, then stepped back cautiously, watching to see if it would fall, and for a moment it didn't, hanging precariously on the branch.
Then it did, and before either one of them could catch it, it had reached the floor. One of the horses fell out of the chipped thing when Bertie carefully lifted it, and he winced to see the cracks in the wood.
"Oh damn," Bertie said, the curse falling from his lips almost unintentionally. "Not this one..."
"May I see it, sir?" Jeeves bent down and took the damaged ornament from Bertie, looking over the cracks.
"It's ruined, isn't it?" Bertie asked, sighing. "Poor thing. Toss it out discreetly when you do, Jeeves - the relatives would flay me to see it damaged."
Jeeves looked at Bertie, wordlessly asking for an explanation, even as Bertie handed him the horse that had fallen from it.
"It used to be my great-grandfather's favorite decoration, when he was a young lad." Bertie shook his head. "I should have left it with Aunt Dahlia, instead of insisting that I could show it here."
Jeeves opened his mouth to say something, but Bertie interrupted.
"Say nothing, Jeeves, this is my own fault, and I'll bear the shame of it. I'll break the news to her after the holidays, and if the question is bandied about, I've decided to leave it in storage for the season." Bertie sighed dramatically, but there was a real touch of sadness to his tone that Jeeves paid attention to.
"Very good, sir," Jeeves murmured, examining the carousel with a thoughtful look.
---
The question, fortunately, was not bandied about as Bertie feared it might have, and Mrs Travers' brief visit before returning to Brinkley Court passed peacefully. (Odd as a peaceful visit was, Bertie found that he rather liked an adventure-free visit.)
Nothing more was said of the broken carousel until some days later, on Christmas Eve after all of Bertie's guests had returned to their homes. There was a fire crackling away in the fireplace, and the remnants of a successful party littered the floors.
"Jeeves, leave the mess alone and come sit, will you? Oh, don't give me that look. I just want a quiet moment by the fire before I hit the hay."
"I understand. Would a mug of cider be unwelcome, sir?"
"Oh, not at all."
In short order they had mugs of cider, and Jeeves was seated for one of the few times that evening.
"I can't help but think of that carousel I dropped, Jeeves. Pleasant as this season has been, I don't like how ill-timed that fiasco was."
"What time is it, sir?" Jeeves asks, earning a strange look from Bertie.
"Just after one in the morning, I believe. The party ran longer than I expected it to, but I couldn't just turn Tuppy out without some sort of escort..." Bertie trails off as Jeeves stands up, leaving the room for a brief moment. "Jeeves?"
"I had planned for this to be a surprise for tomorrow, sir," Jeeves says when he returns, a wrapped gift in hand, "But now seems a fitting time to give you this."
"...a gift for me? Jeeves, you didn't have to - "
"Open it, sir," Jeeves says, and places the gift in Bertie's hands.
Bertie looks from Jeeves to the wrapped gift and back again before opening it slowly. It's heavier than it looks, and when the wrapping paper falls away, it's -
"I - It's my grandfather's carousel! You fixed it? How, Jeeves? I was sure it was wrecked for good!"
"I am acquainted with a carpenter of some skill, sir, and he assured me that he could put it to rights by today."
"...thank you, Jeeves." Bertie says then, as he's not sure what else to say.
---
When Bertie rises the next morning (afternoon, really, but a Christmas morning is a morning whether it's eight in the a.m. or two hours after noon) there is a familiar carousel hanging on the tree.
When Bertie looks at it more closely, he sees that the paint has been touched up as well, and Jeeves says nothing when Bertie points this out. He says nothing, and instead rings the bell for breakfast.
---