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Buttons careened back onto the stage to a roar of cheers and applause from the audience. “Hiya, kids!” He yelled.
“Hiya Buttons!” The gleeful audience dutifully responded.
“So Prince Charming found Cinderella after all, the slipper fit, the wicked stepmother is locked away and everyone is going to live happily ever after.” Buttons beamed down at the children and adults to collective applause. “But while Cinderella is getting ready for the wedding, I think we’ll sing a little song – do you think you can help me?”
“Yeeees!” They swiftly agreed, a few of the children at the front wiggling in their seats, and stretching their hands as far as possible up in the air, pointing their fingers to the ceiling as if that would make Buttons choose them first.
“Great.” Several of the village girls appeared behind Buttons and skipped their way into the front few rows. “Now I’ve asked my friends here to help find some people who would like to come up on stage with me and help out.” Buttons told them all needlessly.
The four dancers soon found themselves with children reaching out to them, wanting to go up on the stage. Soon enough, the village girls returned with a child each, holding their hands to guide them in a line next to Buttons, before standing behind the child they chose for moral support.
“That’s great everyone, give them a cheer.” At first the cheer was quite quiet from the children who hadn’t been chosen, but proud parents were soon coercing the joy back into the audience. Even if it wasn’t their child, someone’s little girl or boy was about to have a magical experience.
Buttons stepped up to the first girl, kneeling down next to her.
“Hello.” He said gently, holding the microphone towards her.
“Hiya Buttons!” She could have been no more than nine, but the amount of noise that girl could make was disproportional to her tiny size.
Buttons pretended to fall back, and righted himself to gales of laughter. “I don’t think we’ll be needing the microphone then! What’s your name?”
“My name is Raven.” She said smugly, pleased to be up on the stage.
“Hello Raven.” Buttons grinned, “And how old are you?”
She paused to think for a minute, and then told him “Eight and a half.”
“Wow, already! Did you like the show?” He asked her, a pretend worried look on his face.
She beamed back at him, “Yep. My favourite bit was when the wheel accidentally came off the carriage, that was so funny.”
Amused parents snorted in the audience, while Buttons really did look a bit embarrassed this time “Ask an honest question, get an honest answer… So what do you want for Christmas, Raven?”
“Some special Lego.” She said quickly, an excited spark coming to her glowing face.
“Oh you didn’t even have to think about that! What are you going to make with your special Lego?” Buttons probed her.
“It’s special because you have curvy pieces, not just straight ones. I want to make a big spaceship and fly into space one day.”
There was an “awwww” from the audience as they remembered what it felt like to have big dreams.
“Well good luck with that, Raven, I hope Santa’s listening!” Buttons replied with genuine sincerity, before moving on to the next child.
“Hello, there.” He said in a mock deep voice.
“Hello, Buttons.” The boy chorused back. Buttons was about to start his spiel again, when he was interrupted by the slightly taller boy leaning over his friend.
“And me too,” He added, not wanting to be forgotten, “Hi Buttons!”
“Oh hello there,” Buttons improvised, knee-walking between the two of them, “Two for the price of one. What are you called?”
The first boy answered, not wanting to be out-shone, “Our names are Jasper and Monty.” He told the audience.
“Yeah,” the second agreed, “And we’re best friends.”
The audience laughed indulgently, while Buttons nodded sagely, “Oh right, watch out Ant and Dec! What was your favourite part of the show?”
The boys had a quick whisper while Buttons pretended to be filing his nails and shining his shoes. “We liked it when the Ugly Sisters said it was time to get ready for bed, and they took off all their clothes!” Jasper yelled, while somewhere in the mirthful audience, his mother shook her head the usual mix of awe and why-me.
“They had really funny pajamas on, and they were really ugly…” Monty added, making a face.
“Brilliant, brilliant.” Buttons agreed, “And what would you two like for Christmas?”
“A chemistry set.” Monty took the microphone, “We saw an advert on the telly, and mum’s been hiding a big box under her bed since November.”
Jasper leaned over, “And Mrs Monty says if we sneak a look under the bed, monsters might come and tell Santa to put the box in someone else’s sack.” He said in horror, his knees pretend quaking.
At that, Buttons really did laugh, “Yep, mums are always right about these things, better not risk it.” He turned to the last little girl, “Hello there.”
“Good evening, Buttons.” She replied quietly.
“Good evening, sweetheart.” He replied, “And can you tell us your name?”
“I’m called Octavia.” She told him, carefully saying all the syllables as if she had had trouble with people saying her name before. Her efforts were wasted this time, because unlike the other kids, Buttons knew full well what Octavia’s name was, and he had something very special planned for her. “I’ve just had my birthday, and now I’m eight.”
“Aw, well eight’s a super good age to be!” Buttons proclaimed. “And can you think of anything you want for Christmas?”
She scuffed her shoe a bit and whispered out of microphone range. Buttons coaxed her into repeating herself. “I wish my brother will come home safe.” She said, “He doesn’t have to be under the tree or anything.” Octavia added, as if that would be too much, “That would be silly – he’s too big to fit under the tree! But when he does come home, I want him to be okay.” Buttons secretly grinned to himself, as she was playing right into his hands. The audience clapped just like with the rest of the children, even if there was clearly a story they did not fully understand.
“I think that’s a lovely thing to wish for.” He replied, standing up again and turning towards the audience once more. “Now we’re all going to put our best voices on, and have a little sing-song.”
Somehow, throughout the next few minutes, they slowly made their way through “Old Mac Donald had a farm”, each child taking on the noise of a particular animal. Raven’s “woof” for a dog immediately got laughs and cheers; Jasper and Monty couldn’t agree on whether pigs should go “oink” or make a snorting sound, so they performed both to great hilarity, before Octavia added a full body wiggle to go with her “moooooo” as a cow.
“Ah, thank you everyone, thank you, thankyou. Mums and Dads, boys and girls, didn’t they do a good job?” The village girl standing behind Octavia gave her a gentle shoulder squeeze before disappearing, quickly returning with three goody bags.
“To say thankyou,” Buttons hushed the audience, “there’s a prezzie for you,” he handed a bag to Raven, who took the bag and looked around uncertainly as to what would happen next, “if you walk down the steps that way, everyone will clap and cheer,” she started walking, and as he had said, the audience did indeed erupt into whoops and hollers.
“There you go,” he spun Monty around in a circle before handing him a bag and pointing him in the right direction, “And for you as well,” Buttons gave the last bag to Jasper and the audience clapped again.
He pretended to look about for another bag for Octavia, but came up empty handed, “And I’m sorry Octavia, but we only had three bags.” The mums and dads in the audience looked a bit shocked as if they had expected a bit better, trading glances between themselves.
“It’s okay,” Octavia started to say, but Buttons took her hand and led her to centre stage.
“Can you tell us a little about yourself, who do you live with at home?” He asked her, bending down right next to her, and sitting on his heels.
“Ummmm,” she said. “Well mummy and daddy are stars in the sky and they watch over me every night.” At that, the theatre fell deadly silent, and even Buttons’ practiced stage-smile dropped a bit. “But I live with Auntie Abby, and Uncle Jaha and Uncle Kane come round for tea a lot and eat all the cakes,” she giggled and the crowd settled a bit, “And big brother Bellamy, and his girlfriend Clarke – one day I think they’re going to get married, but maybe not just yet.”
“Great,” Buttons chuckled. This really was one of the perks of his small stage acting career, “And who are you here with today, Octavia?”
Octavia stepped forward and searched for the familiar faces she was looking for, “Clarke took the day off work to bring me specially – she’s going to be a doctor just like Auntie Abby.” Octavia beamed and pointed directly at the blonde big sister she never had, who was waving at her like a maniac, next to Auntie Abby who was giving her a double thumbs up.
“Right there?” Buttons confirmed, pointing at Clarke, who felt the hot burn of everyone in the crowd staring at her. “How about we get Clarke up here, yeah?” Octavia thought this was such fun, eagerly beckoning Clarke up to join her.
Shaking her head, and not used to the attention, Clarke jolted forward at a little push from her mother, smiling at Abby, who shooed her up the stage.
“Hello, girlfriend Clarke.” Buttons smirked impishly up at her as Clarke waved into the bright lights, wishing she had dressed up a bit more than her faded jeans and comfy long boots. She felt a little drab next to the dancers in their sparkly skirts.
“Hello, butler Buttons.” She sassed back, as Octavia leaned into her for a hug, reaching out for her hand.
“Today, I’ve got a very special present for you, Octavia.” Buttons told her, standing to accept a blindfold from one of the village dancers. She looked up at him suspiciously, and clutched Clarke’s hand a bit tighter. “It’s okay,” he tried to calm her, “you’ll love it, I promise.” He gestured at the audience, “That mushy lot will love it and you’ll get the biggest cheer in the house.”
Octavia stepped closer to Buttons once more, ready to trust him again, “You remember when we put the blindfold on Cinderella, and the Fairy Godmother cleaned the kitchen for her while she wasn’t looking?” Octavia nodded, “Is it okay if we put the blindfold on you this time?” He checked, not wanting to scare her.
Octavia smiled again, letting go of Clarke’s hand and snatching the ribbon from him just like she had seen Cinderella do earlier, carefully tying it around her eyes. “It’s all dark now!” She reached up and poked the edges of the ribbon to check the blindfold was in place.
The village dancer tried to usher Clarke back a bit, but she steadfastly refused, very reluctant to stray far from Octavia. The dancer tried again, smiling and whispering something to Clarke whilst Buttons was ostentatiously making silly faces in front of Octavia to show the audience that she could not see.
Clarke shook her head again, and the dancer caught a colleague’s eye offstage, who made a “hurry up” motion. Finally, the dancer gave up on subtlety and tugged Clarke away towards one of the side stage entrances.
“Now,” Buttons put his arm around Octavia’s shoulders, “Can you tell us any more about big brother Bellamy?”
Clarke was just about to protest her treatment, when a hand reached out and grabbed her elbow. Its surprise owner stepped out from the stage door and swept her downwards into a fierce kiss.
“He’s a hero.” Octavia supplied instantly.
There was a collective intake of breath from the audience, half at Octavia’s answer, and half at the spectacle that was going on behind her.
Bellamy and Clarke managed to co-ordinate their feet enough to walk a few more steps onto the stage as Bellamy pressed her forward, his large palms hot against her waist as he tucked her more firmly against his camouflage uniform.
Clarke broke away, her eyes comically wide as she raised her lips a few inches from his, bringing her hands up either side of his face in incredulity. He wasn’t due on leave for another week, yet. She had no idea how he had managed to come home on Christmas Eve.
“He’s a hero,” Buttons repeated, his face splitting into a Cheshire cat impression as he glanced behind him for a second, “And what does Bellamy do when he’s being a hero?” He asked her.
Bellamy could hear the character cajoling Octavia into telling everyone about him, but the exact words were fading in his ears, a deafening roar of his blood pumping in his ears taking over his whole body. His fingers reflexively tightened as he breathed Clarke in, and uncaring of the watchful eyes upon them.
“He’s a soldier and he goes to war in Iraq, fighting to save people and protect everyone at home, so that I can live free in a peaceful place. His best friend died, and it was really sad because I knew him all my life, but Bellamy is a Lieutenant now and he has shiny medals to show how brave he was.” Octavia’s voice was pure, so proud of her brother even though she would have only had an inkling about the implications of what she was saying.
Clarke’s heart was racing, Bellamy’s rough hands sneaking under the flimsy cotton of her checked shirt, rucking the edge out of her jeans. He double tapped the outside of her thigh in quick succession and Clarke didn’t need asking twice. She leapt up, snuggling into his firm grip as she twined her legs around his waist, the welcome heat from his palm seeping through denim as he slipped a cheeky bum squeeze. Instinctively, her thighs trapped him before she felt him flinch a bit and eased up on the pressure – they’d have words about that later, when she would methodically inspect every inch of hot dark skin and fleshy muscle in the comfort of a horizontal (or maybe vertical) surface.
“You know I said I had a surprise for you, Octavia? I hope you’re ready, because you’re going to need lots of running room.” Buttons turned her sideways as Clarke and Bellamy parted. Bellamy chucked his thumb under Clarke’s chin, giving her another bruising kiss; then stroked down the line of her jaw, leaning back in for a last, gentle brush of soft lips.
Bellamy moved half a step away from Clarke, as if that was too far enough to be away from her, turning to face Octavia. His eyes fixed on the precious form of his little sister, drinking her image in. These were the moments that he needed to fix in his mind. Bellamy knelt on one knee, raising his arms and bracing for impact.
With relish, Buttons whisked off the mask from Octavia’s face, and the shouts of the audience were almost encompassed in the squeal of glee Octavia shrieked. She raced towards her brother, stunned and sad and happy and disbelief all flickering across her eyes in an instant. Octavia flew at him, tears streaming down her face as he caught her up, swinging her round and round, cuddling her close to him.
Bellamy cradled her tousled curls and tucked her face into his neck, his other arm steadied around her thighs as she glued her legs to his ribcage. Buttons’ commentary on the events was being drowned out as the audience raised the roof in the loudest cheer of the entire show.
Octavia was clutching him so hard, Bellamy felt his neck would break, but he would have happily let her hug him so much that she broke every bone in his body. He pressed his lips to her shaking forehead, murmuring reassurances into the noise. I’m here. You’re safe. I love you.
Everything will be okay.
I’ve got you now.
Octavia pushed against the hand her brother had in her hair. She turned her face to Buttons and leaned over to kiss his cheek in thanks. Her brother brushed off his signature hat, carefully placing the fabric atop Octavia’s head at a jaunty angle, once again to another round of cheers and claps.
He reached out to shake Buttons’ hand, and all words were by now pointless. Bellamy reached back to weave his fingers between Clarke’s tugging her close to them again.
He was warm, dry, fed and home, a Princess under each arm.
Don’t get him wrong, they were both more than a handful on an hourly basis. Octavia with her loud opinions and stubborn tantrums. Clarke just as bad, teaching Octavia to pout and argue with the best of them.
But they were his.
They were safe and happy, solidly pressed against body, and he wouldn't have it any other way…
(Except Clarke, later, with maybe a diamond ring and a horizontal – or vertical – surface.)