Work Text:
It's a Wonderful Undeath
Josef let himself out of his house and hurried down the walk, looking forward to spending an enjoyable few hours at the Club this evening. In fact, he was so looking forward to it that it took him a few seconds to realize something was off. Then he stopped dead at the horrible, offensively garish sight greeting him, unable to believe his eyes.
There was a snowman on his front lawn.
A three-foot-tall, plastic illuminated snowman. A snowman. On his lawn.
“What the hell?!” If this was his gardener’s idea of a joke, the man would be lucky if he didn’t end up finding himself at La Brea for Christmas.
Then Josef heard familiar giggling. “Figures this is your doing,” he commented, but the source of the laughter remained unseen. “Shara Alexander, show yourself!” he ordered.
Shane’s young daughter finally came out from her hiding place behind his ornate, intricately shaped topiary lion, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Isn’t he wonderful?” she gushed. Her favorite word this year was 'wonderful.'
“Aren’t you supposed to be Pagan?” Josef teased, knowing that the Alexanders purposely exposed their child to many different belief systems.
“What, and miss out on a holiday where you get tons of presents every year?” she retorted without missing a beat.
“Can’t fault you there,” Josef said admiring her practicality. Undoubtedly got it from him.
A small hand reached up to tug on his. “Please Uncle Jay-Jay, can’t Frosty stay?”
‘Uncle Jay-Jay’ was bad enough on its own, it always made him melt. Combined with the please and those big blue eyes looking up at him… he was a goner. He hadn’t given her the nickname ‘Queen of Sheba’ for nothing. “Okay, he can stay.”
“Yippee!”
“Why aren’t you putting up these crass decorations at your own house?” Josef asked pointedly.
“We’re doing it right now. What’s crass mean?”
“Wonderful,” he answered distractedly, glancing in the direction of the other house.
“Come help!” she cajoled, already starting to tow him in that direction.
Deciding it might be amusing to see what they were up to, Josef allowed Shara to lead him over to the other house. Putting a finger to his lips to signify she should keep mum about his presence, he stealthily crept onto the property. Shane was busy stringing some lights and Sara was sitting in a lawn chair with her back to the approaching vampire. Neither of them gave any indication that they knew anyone had arrived with Shara.
Josef set his devilish sights on one of the lawn decorations and tiptoed closer to it, intent on mayhem.
“Touch Rudolph and you won’t be playing any reindeer games with us tonight,” warned a voice, Shane’s.
Josef shrugged even though they couldn’t see him. It was an old familiar game that they played with each other, although it was usually Shane who was trying to sneak up on Josef.
Josef came up behind Sara and placed his hands on her shoulders. “This is so cute,” he cooed in an exaggeratedly sweet voice. “So sadly domestic. So boringly Normal.” Of course, in actuality, the two of them were about as far from boring as you could ever get and couldn’t do Normal if they tried, but it was fun teasing and he knew it was a bit of a sensitive topic with the unconventional couple.
“Hey!” Sara scolded. “Watch the insults!”
“This is what happens when you get married,” Josef continued sagely, shaking his head sadly. “I’m so glad I’m single and free.”
“That can be changed,” Shane commented.
Josef arched an eyebrow at him, unfazed. Funny how things change. A few years ago his reaction to such an implication would have been totally different, much less unruffled. But then Josef always had been more for wanting what he couldn’t have. Now that he was secure in his place and what he had… well, nothing could compare to bachelorhood, really. Especially when you had the best of both worlds.
“Well, what do you think?” Shane asked his family a moment later, stepping back to study the finished decorations.
“I think it looks crass!” Shara announced loudly, her expression filled with delight at the transformation into a winter wonderland.
Two sets of adult eyes fixed upon Josef perceptively, knowing he had something to do with her choice of words.
“What?!” he defended, trying to keep his grin under wraps.
Then the hand of fragile steel was tugging on Josef’s again, trying to get him going in the direction of the front door. “Now we’re going to go inside and drink hot cocoa and watch Christmas cartoons,” Shara told him. It sounded like an order.
Looking down at that face, Josef realized he’d rather be here than at the Club any day. “As long as I can skip the cocoa,” he said, trying to sound reluctant and wondering how badly he’d failed.
Shara muttered something under her breath that sounded like silly vampire and dropped his hand to run ahead into the house.
Josef watched her go, fondly. He had found something unexpected and amazing with this little girl. The ability to love, freely and unconditionally. Without need of the protective armor he’d built up around himself to keep everyone at a distance. With her, he had no need of it. No games, just honest, innocent emotion. Something he hadn’t felt in so long, he’d forgotten how. She’d taught him, simply by existing.
Shane’s daughter, with so much of him in her that Josef couldn’t help but adore her.
As the adults followed more sedately, Josef slung an arm around each of them. “After we put the Queen of Sheba to bed, you’ll have to show me these reindeer games you speak of…”
The end
12/25/09