Chapter Text
It was four days until Christmas, and Abel was feeling anything but festive. Gloom had settled across the Township, thick and enveloping as fog. It didn’t matter how many lights they strung, or how many presents they wrapped, or how many carols were piped through the speakers, inescapable as they echoed around the quad. They just couldn’t find the magic.
Sure, the apocalypse wasn’t known for being the jolliest of settings, but the holidays usually gave them a bit of a reprieve. It was something to focus on besides the horror and uncertainty that usually plagued their days. For just a little while, you were reminded of the joy from the before times, how you could carry it with you into the life you’d carved out now. But no one had the spirit this year, and no one knew how to fix it.
No one, that was, except for everyone’s favorite operator, who’d just woken with a start.
“Jo!” he exclaimed, shaking his sleeping partner awake. “Jo, wake up!”
Runner Five was up like a shot, ready to defend against whatever danger had sprung her from her long winter’s nap.
“What? What’s happening? Who’s dead?” she yelped, throwing her hands in front of her face defensively.
“No, nothing like that, I’ve got it!”
Realizing she was in no danger beyond Sam’s enthusiasm, Jo rubbed her eyes. “Jesus Christ, Sam, got what? Wait, what time is it?”
“I just had a dream that we threw the most incredible Christmas party ever thrown!” Sam said. “It was perfect. And now I know what we have to do!”
Jo blinked at him in the dark. “Go back to sleep?” she asked, trying to pull the blankets over her head.
Sam was relentless, seizing the covers back. “No, no! Listen, it just hasn’t felt like Christmas this year. I mean, I’ve got the spirit, but people seem so sad. I know supplies are tight. I know it’s been a tough year, and…a lot of people have died.”
“Yeah, that’s been…not great,” Jo said.
“But it’s the holidays!” Sam insisted.
Jo stared at him. “Okay. Good night?”
“I think my dream was trying to tell me something. I think we’re supposed to spread cheer and save Christmas!”
Jo lightly pinched her arm to make sure she really was hearing this.
“So we should throw the party from my dream!”
Ouch. Definitely real.
“Um…when?” she asked hesitantly.
“Today! This afternoon! The sooner the better!”
Sam had that look in his eye, the same one he got before he suggested a live-action, Township-wide D&D session, or that they should try to raise morale by staging a Chopped-style cooking contest with mystery tins, or that time he’d tried to convince Janine that every Friday the runners should get to do “Wacky Hat Day.” It was that look that told her he wouldn’t be dissuaded until he’d watched his idea come to fruition – or crash and burn in front of everyone.
Jo ran a hand through her hair with a sigh. “Okay, but let’s not go crazy. We still have supply runs scheduled, and I have to take inventory at the hospital – ”
“No, no! This party has to be magical, Jo! Just like my dream!”
With a flourish, he leapt to his feet, whirling the blanket around his shoulders like a cape and nearly jostling Jo out of the tiny twin they shared.
“Alright, so in my dream, everyone was there, wearing their Christmas best!”
“I just have leggings and that one jacket I stole from Janine,” Jo said.
“And we had eggnog! A whole river of it.”
“That seems impractical.”
“The party brought everyone together because the holidays are bigger than all of us! And we shared in the cheer, and it made everyone reconsider how sad they were! It was…it was the Christmas of my dreams! Doesn’t that sound nice?” He waved a hand in her direction. “Jo, write this stuff down, we’ll need all of it for the party.”
“Sam, I’m really tired,” she mumbled, trying her best to curl up where she wouldn’t be stepped on.”
“Now let’s see…” he thought. “We’ll need five meat-carving stations…”
“Few cans of Spam got it.”
“And guests from far away nations!”
“I bet Tom would come, he’s not doing anything.”
“Oh!” he exclaimed. “And we’ll need an ice skating rink, and skates for everyone! And someone will need to dress up like Mr. Present and greet all our guests!”
“Mr. Present sounds nice,” Jo agreed, past the point of arguing.
“I really think it would be the Christmas of my dreams. Oh, it’ll be great!”
“Sam, can I please have the blanket?”
Sam finally looked down from his perch, elation etched onto his still half-asleep face, to where his partner was shivering.
“Is that a new sports bra? It’s nice!”
“No, it’s…old,” she said, seizing the blanket and tucking herself back in. “But thanks for noticing.”
Sam settled back down, a bit too excited to get back to sleep. “Really though, I think this party could be exactly what we need!”
“I’m sure it will be, in the morning,” Jo muttered from where she’d pulled the blankets over her head.
“Presents, and carols, and –”
A hand emerged from under the blankets and attached itself to his face.
“Sam. In the morning.”
“So let me get this straight,” Jody said. “A dream told Sam that we should throw a Christmas party?”
Sam hadn’t wasted any time filling everyone in on his plans the following morning. A part of Jo had hoped she’d dreamt the whole thing – or at least that Sam would have calmed down by morning – but she had no such luck. He was determined to throw the grandest and most festive party Abel Township had ever seen, and he was determined to do it in a matter of hours.
“That’s right!” Sam said, digging through the box of decorations he’d unearthed from a closet in the dorms. “We’re gonna spread a little Christmas cheer!”
“I had a dream Jo had a mullet,” Whitney chimed in. “Should we just do that instead?”
Jo flicked a hair tie at her.
Across the room, a couple of runners fresh off a tech exchange with New Canton piled onto the sofa.
“So they’re really just going to shut down that holiday nightclub the New Canton runners started?” one of them asked.
“That’s what Runner 113 said,” her partner companion replied. “Apparently it’s in violation of the Permanent Advisory Council’s codes. Noise violations, unpermitted stages, more than one illegal seesaw…”
“God, that’s a shame,” the first one said. “So much for holiday cheer.”
“Well, I guess those tiny dancers will have to hold each other closer this holiday season!” Peter said, grabbing a seat at the table with the others. “What are we talking about?”
Before anyone could answer, Sam gasped and sprinted back to his and Jo’s quarters. By the time the others caught up, he’d taken Jo’s Bowie knife to the top third of the Christmas tree he’d erected in the corner of the room and was desperately trying to cut it free.
“He seems well,” Whitney deadpanned.
“Sam,” Jo asked patiently, “why are you cutting off the top of the tree?”
“I’m just gonna borrow a little bit from our tree and make a mini one for the party!” he replied.
“Oh, good,” Peter said, “he’s circumcising your tree.”
Jo smacked him.
“Did you hear those runners??” he asked. “This Christmas is gonna be sad if we don’t put in the extra effort!”
With a few final slices and a grunt of effort, the top of the tree came loose in his hands.
Jo let out a measured breath. “Ok, so, our tree looks…exactly how it looks right now…cause of…what you just did.”
“Oh, you can barely tell!” Sam said, admiring his work. “Plus, I’ll just reattach it, it’ll grow back together, and done!”
“Yeah, that sounds right,” Whitney said.
Sam looked back at the remainder of the tree. “Now, this tree has to be really special if we’re going to save Christmas, so I’m going to relocate some of my favorite ornaments.” He picked up three: a sparkly orange bauble, a Marmite-jar repurposed into an ornament, and a circle of cardboard with a baby’s handprint smeared onto it in paint.
“See? Peter gave me this one for last year’s Secret Santa, and Jo made this one our second Christmas together, and this one! Baby Sara made this for me on her first Christmas!”
“You know, I’ve been hearing a lot about this Township-wide Secret Santa of yours,” Whitney said. “It’s made me a bit more interested in what’s going under the tree if you catch my drift.”
“Yes, Whitney, we got your list. The entire binder,” Jo said.
“Yeah, I noticed a lot of it hasn’t been checked off yet, sooo…”
Sam held up the tree for everyone to see. “Aww, look at this little tree! I love my mini tree! Alright, I’m gonna fill it up with ornaments, and then I’m going to invite everyone to the party!”
Peter leaned over to Jody, “Hang on, what exactly is happening here?”
“Sam had a dream and now he has to throw a party and save Christmas,” Jody whispered back.
“Oh. Right. The classic Holiday Dream Party,” Peter said sarcastically. “Everyone’s favorite tradition.”
Satisfied he’d moved all the best ornaments, Sam sprinted from the room, holding the tree aloft, leaving the others shaking their heads.
“I still can’t believe that is who you married,” Whitney said. Most of the time, Abel’s newest resident was just happy to have been reunited with her friend, but once in a while, how much things had changed since she’d seen her last really smacked her in the face.
“What can I say?” Jo replied. “The heart wants what it wants. And apparently what my heart wants is to be woken up at three in the morning to plan an impromptu Christmas party.”
“So…we’re doing this then?” Jody asked.
Jo sighed. “Yeah. I guess we’re doing this.”