For iluvroadrunner6
Title: Rethinking Opinions About Christmas
Author: A friend ^_^
Giftee: iluvroadrunner6
Characters: Don Flack, Jr./Lindsay Monroe
Spoilers: None, for it is set in an AU.
Rating: PG
Prompt: Flack/Lindsay, cocoa, snowman, one of them singing a Christmas carol
Author's Notes: I wrote this as part of a series, but you don't need to know the series to read this. Used the generator prompt Lindsay Monroe / Don Flack, Jr. / anything you want.
---
He absolutely detested snow. If he hadn't wanted to be an NYPD detective so badly, he'd have moved somewhere like Florida or California ages ago.
He'd hated snow since he was a kid, since some little punk took his coat and shoved snow down his pants in second grade. The teacher finally got him his coat back, but there was no change of pants so he had to sit on his wet butt for most of the day till his pants dried. What probably made it worse was that his father laughed at him. He didn't laugh at the situation, he laughed at him. They were okay, now, but back then it had hurt him a lot.
Yeah, he hated snow. Snow and Christmas and New Years and all that crap, he hated it all.
About the only thing that was keeping him sane this year was Lindsay. Even though she had a deep love of Christmas and her apartment was decked out in holiday finery, he could handle it if she was around. He'd already told his mom he'd only stop in for a minute or two, which really meant he'd be there for an hour, probably around breakfast and gift giving time, and probably without Lindsay since she had to work that day.
His mother, of course, was disappointed. She kept wanting to meet Lindsay and her work schedule kept thwarting it. He halfway expected his mother to show up at the labs looking for the woman who might end up her future daughter-in law. And if things kept going in the direction they were going, for all he knew that might be what happened.
But for now, he was simply watching her hang up some tinsel on her tree. She hadn't even tried to convince him he should get one of his own; starting in November he'd made noises about how much he hated the holidays so she told him she was going to celebrate and if he wanted to join her, great. If not, he was getting a gift but that was it.
He'd kissed her at that point because she was the first woman he'd dated that got it, who realized he really wasn't into it.
But she must have been doing something to change his mind because it was the day before Christmas and he, surprisingly, was actually looking forward to it. He was humming a Christmas carol to himself, and occasionally singing it. He'd caught her smiling and sang a little later. When she came up and gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him he was tone deaf and butchering the song, at least she did it with a smile on her face. In response, he sang the next verse a little louder than before. Or at least the first bit of it, because she clapped her hand over his mouth at that part. He grinned beneath her hand and she told him if he stopped singing, she'd give him one of his gifts.
So now he was alternating watching her decorate her tree, something she'd said was family tradition to decorate the tree right before Christmas, and playing the handheld baseball game she'd gotten him. He found watching her to be more interesting than the game at the moment, and he glad that was the way he felt. When she started to hum the song he'd been butchering, he laughed and went up to her.
"How come I'm butchering the song and you get it just right?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Probably all those years of having to sing it at church," she said with a grin, leaning into him. She shut her eyes. "Only problem with this moment is that I have a plastic tree instead of a real one."
"You know, if I swing by my parents in the evening, you can come with. They have a real tree," he said slowly. It wasn't that he didn't want Lindsay to meet his parents, but..." She turned around in his arms and gave him a look, a slightly wicked one. "Okay, I know that look. What's going on?"
"Danny's trying to avoid meeting Maka's mom, so he begged for me to trade. Maka's trying to avoid having him meet her mom, so if I trade they'll both owe me."
Flack laughed. "You're a good friend, you know that?"
"Now, I just know a good opportunity when I see it. I was going to let you sleep in late and be there when you woke up."
"Sort of like a Christmas present?" he asked.
"Yeah, like a Christmas present." She leaned up and kissed him, and he was pretty sure she'd forgotten about her half decorated tree within a few seconds. He knew he'd forgotten about anything but her by then.
---
He woke up that morning with her nestled into him. He almost didn't want to wake her up, but his arm was starting to fall asleep. He nudged her slightly and she groaned. "Want to sleep."
"Lindsay, it's eleven in the morning. Time to get up," he said gently.
Her eyes flashed open. "Oh, crap. We're going to be late!"
"Relax. All we have to so is worry about my sister's boy deciding to open up my presents for me."
"I thought you said he was eight. Shouldn't he know better?"
"Christmas brings out the greediness in my family. Mom said she'd hold off on the gift giving till we get there. He probably got one or two of his now, but..."
"Then we should get out of bed and get dressed. We have no clue what traffic's going to be like."
He laughed and pulled her closer to give her a quick kiss. "Let 'em suffer a little bit. Besides, I have a gift to give you before we go."
She raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"I tell you, it ruins the surprise." He let go of her and sat up, reaching into her nightstand. "His it here last night."
"When?"
"When I got up at three in the morning because I couldn't sleep."
She sat up, reached out and touched his arm. Not that long ago she'd been hurt and it had changed the type of nightmares he'd been having. She got worried and kept assuring him she'd be all right, and that seemed to have helped lessen that set of bad dreams. "Nightmare?"
He shook his head. "Body clock's all messed up." He pulled out a box and shut the drawer. "For you, Miss Lindsay Monroe."
She eyed it. It was bigger than a ring box, and for that she was glad. They hadn't been together long enough for that, in her opinion. But it was most likely a jewelry box. She tore off the wrapping paper and saw that it was, in fact, a jewelry box. She opened the box and saw a bracelet nestled inside with two earrings in the middle of the space elft by the bracelet. They were some sort of green stone, set in gold.
"Jade," he said. "Supposed to bring good luck."
"Oh, Don," she said, leaning over and giving him a kiss. "They're gorgeous. I'm going to wear them today."
"Good thing you like them. It took me a while to pick those out."
"Anyone help you?"
He tilted his head slightly. "I asked Stella where a good store was and she told me. I went by myself and picked these out by myself. Surprising, right?"
"Not really," she said.
"You're lying through your teeth," he said with a grin.
"Maybe a little. But these are beautiful." She pulled the bracelet from the box and put it on her wrist. It fit perfectly. "Yeah, definitely wearing these today."
He grinned at her, then leaned over and gave her a leisurely kiss. "Merry Christmas."
---
"So, kid, want to go out and build a snowman?"
Flack realized those were probably famous last words. He still hated snow, and having his nephew pelt him with snowballs as they built a snowman on the sidewalk outside his parents place didn't help, but he was starting to ignore the cold and the wetness of his gloves as his nephew got more excited about the project. Who knew building a snow cop would make him so excited?
They were on their third. His nephew had said Flack could name them, since he actually knew cops, so the two finished ones were Mac and Stella. He debated taking a picture and showing them the next day.
"Who're we working on now, Uncle Don?"
"Danny. And if there's a way to make his head bigger than his torso, we're going to do it."
"Do you like him much, or is he a pain in the as-- butt?"
"Good catch there. You know your Ma would wash your mouth out with soap." Flack gathered up more snow, then looked towards the window to see her, his mom and his sister talking animatedly. He grinned. "Naw, Danny's probably one of my best friends. Sometimes a little bit of a pain, but not much."
"Mom said you and him got in a fight."
"Yeah..."
"Why?"
He looked up at the window and this time Lindsay waved to him, then help up a cup. "Let's just say we both wanted the same thing and only one of us was going to get it." He knew Lindsay would kill him if she found out he'd referred to her as an it, but it wasn't time for his nephew to know about him and his personal life, or at least more than he overheard his mom talking about. "Hey, kid, let's get some cocoa or something."
---
He held the cup in his hands, praying his fingers would warm up. He hadn't really been able to feel Lindsay's hand in his, and that's when she let go and went into the kitchen to get him a cup. He knew there was liquor in it, which meant his uncle was in charge of the drink making, and he knew they were taking a cab that night.
Then he'd realized Lindsay was drinking apple cider. He gave her a look, she gave him a grin and took a sip of her drink, and he'd shook his head and had more cocoa while he turned back to his conversation with his sister.
Things were going good, even when his nephew begged him to go back outside and finish the snowmen. Lindsay had heard all about the snow cops, and she decided to help. They did manage to give the snow Danny a big head, much to Lindsay's amusement, and after about two hours there was a row of snow cops lined up in front of the house. Lindsay stepped back and took a picture with the camera his mother had thrust into her hand.
"Wait till they see that," Lindsay said, shaking her head. "You know Danny's not going to be happy."
"He'll live. Besides, at least we put Maka next to him."
She laughed. "And Mac next to Stella. And you next to me." She laughed a little. "Poor Hawkes, though. He's next to Hammerback."
Flack shook his head. "I wouldn't be that cruel. That's...Aiden."
She sobered slightly, but she still smiled. "Yeah, I think he'll like that."
He put her arm around her. "Pretty sure he will."
She rubbed her hands together. "Come on. Your mom said something about gifts."
"I just can't believe she held off this long on opening them. It's almost dinner time."
"I think it's because your nephew wanted to spend some time with you. Your sister was telling me he misses his dad."
The two of them walked towards the door. "Need to make it a point to spend more time till his dad gets back, then."
She nodded. "You're a good guy, you know that?"
"So I'm told."
---
They stayed for dinner, which hadn't been in the plans, but he was glad he had. He'd had plans to eat something with Lindsay at some restaurant, but this was...better. His father hadn't been his normal critical self, but he was sure come the 26th it'd be the way it always was.
By the time they left, Flack was weighted down with leftovers and Lindsay was carrying not only his gifts but a few Flack's mom and sister had gotten for her. She'd only brought a bottle of wine for them, and had been surprised that they'd gotten her anything at all, but she'd graciously taken them. She now cradled a book on New York City history in her arms and was wearing the new scarf his mother had made for her.
"I like your family."
"You spend much time with my dad?"
"A little. Mostly your mom, sister, nephew and uncle."
Flack nodded. "Figured that would happen." Before he could get melancholy, he stopped and looked at her. Face flushed and cheeks slightly red, with her hair sticking out from under a hat and the scarf around her neck, she looked gorgeous. He wanted a picture or something, then remembered the digital camera his sister had gotten him. He wasn't sure how that particular one worked, but it had looked easy.
He reached over to her and took the bag she was holding that had his gifts. He dug around and pulled out the camera, handing her the bag again.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking a picture," he said, holding the camera up to eye level. "Say...Christmas."
"Christmas," she said with a grin. He snapped the picture. "You done?"
"Hold on." He looked at the picture. "Yeah, I'm done."
"Good. Let's get in the taxi and go back to my place."
"Sounds good to me," he said, opening up the door of the cab that had been waiting patiently.
---
Hours later, after they opened each others gifts, had a little of the leftovers, put the rest away and had some alcohol laced eggnog, they were sitting on her couch watching the first Die Hard movie.
"Nothing says Christmas like watching Bruce Willis chase bad guys," Flack said, and Lindsay giggled.
"He's not really chasing them, you know." She snuggled in closer to him. "You have a good Christmas, Don?"
"Definitely on the list of one of my better ones."
"Good." She tilted her head and kissed his cheek. In response, he pulled her closer. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas to you too, Linds." She settled in next to him and he grinned. Yeah, it had been a pretty merry Christmas, much better than he's expected. As he thought about how cold his hands still were, though, he realized while he may finally like Christmas, he still hated snow.
He'd wait until New Years with Lindsay was over before he figured out whether he still hated that holiday, though.
Author: A friend ^_^
Giftee: iluvroadrunner6
Characters: Don Flack, Jr./Lindsay Monroe
Spoilers: None, for it is set in an AU.
Rating: PG
Prompt: Flack/Lindsay, cocoa, snowman, one of them singing a Christmas carol
Author's Notes: I wrote this as part of a series, but you don't need to know the series to read this. Used the generator prompt Lindsay Monroe / Don Flack, Jr. / anything you want.
---
He absolutely detested snow. If he hadn't wanted to be an NYPD detective so badly, he'd have moved somewhere like Florida or California ages ago.
He'd hated snow since he was a kid, since some little punk took his coat and shoved snow down his pants in second grade. The teacher finally got him his coat back, but there was no change of pants so he had to sit on his wet butt for most of the day till his pants dried. What probably made it worse was that his father laughed at him. He didn't laugh at the situation, he laughed at him. They were okay, now, but back then it had hurt him a lot.
Yeah, he hated snow. Snow and Christmas and New Years and all that crap, he hated it all.
About the only thing that was keeping him sane this year was Lindsay. Even though she had a deep love of Christmas and her apartment was decked out in holiday finery, he could handle it if she was around. He'd already told his mom he'd only stop in for a minute or two, which really meant he'd be there for an hour, probably around breakfast and gift giving time, and probably without Lindsay since she had to work that day.
His mother, of course, was disappointed. She kept wanting to meet Lindsay and her work schedule kept thwarting it. He halfway expected his mother to show up at the labs looking for the woman who might end up her future daughter-in law. And if things kept going in the direction they were going, for all he knew that might be what happened.
But for now, he was simply watching her hang up some tinsel on her tree. She hadn't even tried to convince him he should get one of his own; starting in November he'd made noises about how much he hated the holidays so she told him she was going to celebrate and if he wanted to join her, great. If not, he was getting a gift but that was it.
He'd kissed her at that point because she was the first woman he'd dated that got it, who realized he really wasn't into it.
But she must have been doing something to change his mind because it was the day before Christmas and he, surprisingly, was actually looking forward to it. He was humming a Christmas carol to himself, and occasionally singing it. He'd caught her smiling and sang a little later. When she came up and gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him he was tone deaf and butchering the song, at least she did it with a smile on her face. In response, he sang the next verse a little louder than before. Or at least the first bit of it, because she clapped her hand over his mouth at that part. He grinned beneath her hand and she told him if he stopped singing, she'd give him one of his gifts.
So now he was alternating watching her decorate her tree, something she'd said was family tradition to decorate the tree right before Christmas, and playing the handheld baseball game she'd gotten him. He found watching her to be more interesting than the game at the moment, and he glad that was the way he felt. When she started to hum the song he'd been butchering, he laughed and went up to her.
"How come I'm butchering the song and you get it just right?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Probably all those years of having to sing it at church," she said with a grin, leaning into him. She shut her eyes. "Only problem with this moment is that I have a plastic tree instead of a real one."
"You know, if I swing by my parents in the evening, you can come with. They have a real tree," he said slowly. It wasn't that he didn't want Lindsay to meet his parents, but..." She turned around in his arms and gave him a look, a slightly wicked one. "Okay, I know that look. What's going on?"
"Danny's trying to avoid meeting Maka's mom, so he begged for me to trade. Maka's trying to avoid having him meet her mom, so if I trade they'll both owe me."
Flack laughed. "You're a good friend, you know that?"
"Now, I just know a good opportunity when I see it. I was going to let you sleep in late and be there when you woke up."
"Sort of like a Christmas present?" he asked.
"Yeah, like a Christmas present." She leaned up and kissed him, and he was pretty sure she'd forgotten about her half decorated tree within a few seconds. He knew he'd forgotten about anything but her by then.
---
He woke up that morning with her nestled into him. He almost didn't want to wake her up, but his arm was starting to fall asleep. He nudged her slightly and she groaned. "Want to sleep."
"Lindsay, it's eleven in the morning. Time to get up," he said gently.
Her eyes flashed open. "Oh, crap. We're going to be late!"
"Relax. All we have to so is worry about my sister's boy deciding to open up my presents for me."
"I thought you said he was eight. Shouldn't he know better?"
"Christmas brings out the greediness in my family. Mom said she'd hold off on the gift giving till we get there. He probably got one or two of his now, but..."
"Then we should get out of bed and get dressed. We have no clue what traffic's going to be like."
He laughed and pulled her closer to give her a quick kiss. "Let 'em suffer a little bit. Besides, I have a gift to give you before we go."
She raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"I tell you, it ruins the surprise." He let go of her and sat up, reaching into her nightstand. "His it here last night."
"When?"
"When I got up at three in the morning because I couldn't sleep."
She sat up, reached out and touched his arm. Not that long ago she'd been hurt and it had changed the type of nightmares he'd been having. She got worried and kept assuring him she'd be all right, and that seemed to have helped lessen that set of bad dreams. "Nightmare?"
He shook his head. "Body clock's all messed up." He pulled out a box and shut the drawer. "For you, Miss Lindsay Monroe."
She eyed it. It was bigger than a ring box, and for that she was glad. They hadn't been together long enough for that, in her opinion. But it was most likely a jewelry box. She tore off the wrapping paper and saw that it was, in fact, a jewelry box. She opened the box and saw a bracelet nestled inside with two earrings in the middle of the space elft by the bracelet. They were some sort of green stone, set in gold.
"Jade," he said. "Supposed to bring good luck."
"Oh, Don," she said, leaning over and giving him a kiss. "They're gorgeous. I'm going to wear them today."
"Good thing you like them. It took me a while to pick those out."
"Anyone help you?"
He tilted his head slightly. "I asked Stella where a good store was and she told me. I went by myself and picked these out by myself. Surprising, right?"
"Not really," she said.
"You're lying through your teeth," he said with a grin.
"Maybe a little. But these are beautiful." She pulled the bracelet from the box and put it on her wrist. It fit perfectly. "Yeah, definitely wearing these today."
He grinned at her, then leaned over and gave her a leisurely kiss. "Merry Christmas."
---
"So, kid, want to go out and build a snowman?"
Flack realized those were probably famous last words. He still hated snow, and having his nephew pelt him with snowballs as they built a snowman on the sidewalk outside his parents place didn't help, but he was starting to ignore the cold and the wetness of his gloves as his nephew got more excited about the project. Who knew building a snow cop would make him so excited?
They were on their third. His nephew had said Flack could name them, since he actually knew cops, so the two finished ones were Mac and Stella. He debated taking a picture and showing them the next day.
"Who're we working on now, Uncle Don?"
"Danny. And if there's a way to make his head bigger than his torso, we're going to do it."
"Do you like him much, or is he a pain in the as-- butt?"
"Good catch there. You know your Ma would wash your mouth out with soap." Flack gathered up more snow, then looked towards the window to see her, his mom and his sister talking animatedly. He grinned. "Naw, Danny's probably one of my best friends. Sometimes a little bit of a pain, but not much."
"Mom said you and him got in a fight."
"Yeah..."
"Why?"
He looked up at the window and this time Lindsay waved to him, then help up a cup. "Let's just say we both wanted the same thing and only one of us was going to get it." He knew Lindsay would kill him if she found out he'd referred to her as an it, but it wasn't time for his nephew to know about him and his personal life, or at least more than he overheard his mom talking about. "Hey, kid, let's get some cocoa or something."
---
He held the cup in his hands, praying his fingers would warm up. He hadn't really been able to feel Lindsay's hand in his, and that's when she let go and went into the kitchen to get him a cup. He knew there was liquor in it, which meant his uncle was in charge of the drink making, and he knew they were taking a cab that night.
Then he'd realized Lindsay was drinking apple cider. He gave her a look, she gave him a grin and took a sip of her drink, and he'd shook his head and had more cocoa while he turned back to his conversation with his sister.
Things were going good, even when his nephew begged him to go back outside and finish the snowmen. Lindsay had heard all about the snow cops, and she decided to help. They did manage to give the snow Danny a big head, much to Lindsay's amusement, and after about two hours there was a row of snow cops lined up in front of the house. Lindsay stepped back and took a picture with the camera his mother had thrust into her hand.
"Wait till they see that," Lindsay said, shaking her head. "You know Danny's not going to be happy."
"He'll live. Besides, at least we put Maka next to him."
She laughed. "And Mac next to Stella. And you next to me." She laughed a little. "Poor Hawkes, though. He's next to Hammerback."
Flack shook his head. "I wouldn't be that cruel. That's...Aiden."
She sobered slightly, but she still smiled. "Yeah, I think he'll like that."
He put her arm around her. "Pretty sure he will."
She rubbed her hands together. "Come on. Your mom said something about gifts."
"I just can't believe she held off this long on opening them. It's almost dinner time."
"I think it's because your nephew wanted to spend some time with you. Your sister was telling me he misses his dad."
The two of them walked towards the door. "Need to make it a point to spend more time till his dad gets back, then."
She nodded. "You're a good guy, you know that?"
"So I'm told."
---
They stayed for dinner, which hadn't been in the plans, but he was glad he had. He'd had plans to eat something with Lindsay at some restaurant, but this was...better. His father hadn't been his normal critical self, but he was sure come the 26th it'd be the way it always was.
By the time they left, Flack was weighted down with leftovers and Lindsay was carrying not only his gifts but a few Flack's mom and sister had gotten for her. She'd only brought a bottle of wine for them, and had been surprised that they'd gotten her anything at all, but she'd graciously taken them. She now cradled a book on New York City history in her arms and was wearing the new scarf his mother had made for her.
"I like your family."
"You spend much time with my dad?"
"A little. Mostly your mom, sister, nephew and uncle."
Flack nodded. "Figured that would happen." Before he could get melancholy, he stopped and looked at her. Face flushed and cheeks slightly red, with her hair sticking out from under a hat and the scarf around her neck, she looked gorgeous. He wanted a picture or something, then remembered the digital camera his sister had gotten him. He wasn't sure how that particular one worked, but it had looked easy.
He reached over to her and took the bag she was holding that had his gifts. He dug around and pulled out the camera, handing her the bag again.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking a picture," he said, holding the camera up to eye level. "Say...Christmas."
"Christmas," she said with a grin. He snapped the picture. "You done?"
"Hold on." He looked at the picture. "Yeah, I'm done."
"Good. Let's get in the taxi and go back to my place."
"Sounds good to me," he said, opening up the door of the cab that had been waiting patiently.
---
Hours later, after they opened each others gifts, had a little of the leftovers, put the rest away and had some alcohol laced eggnog, they were sitting on her couch watching the first Die Hard movie.
"Nothing says Christmas like watching Bruce Willis chase bad guys," Flack said, and Lindsay giggled.
"He's not really chasing them, you know." She snuggled in closer to him. "You have a good Christmas, Don?"
"Definitely on the list of one of my better ones."
"Good." She tilted her head and kissed his cheek. In response, he pulled her closer. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas to you too, Linds." She settled in next to him and he grinned. Yeah, it had been a pretty merry Christmas, much better than he's expected. As he thought about how cold his hands still were, though, he realized while he may finally like Christmas, he still hated snow.
He'd wait until New Years with Lindsay was over before he figured out whether he still hated that holiday, though.