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Doc sat up, frowning at the empty space next to her and pushing the blanket away to get out of bed. Normally on a winter morning like this, she’d wake up to her girlfriend next to her fast asleep and would cuddle close until Chris woke up, starting their day together.
The spot was cold, meaning Chris had gotten up a while ago, so Doc pulled on a sweater and wandered out into the main room of their trailer. The fire was lit in the small fireplace, a kettle of water sat on it to boil.
Chris came out from the bathroom, smiling gently when she saw Doc, “Morning hun, how’d you sleep?”
“Good. When did you wake up?”
“Few hours ago. Figured I’d let you sleep while I got the kids ready for their walk to Hope, Holly said they’re gonna stay there for a few days to help with repairs and visit.”
“You know, I think Holly’s gonna protest at you calling her a kid,” Doc tilted her head, “She’s almost twenty-five Chris.”
“Still our girl,” Chris chuckled, crossing the room and pulling Doc into a tight hug, “I love you, baby.”
“I love you too.”
“What do you say we decorate for Christmas then do nothing but read and draw all day?”
“I need to do laundry Chris, and we need to check the winter garden,” Doc laughed at Chris’ groan, kissing her before breaking out of the hug, “Laundry shouldn’t take me too long, and checking the garden will only take a few minutes. Then we can decorate for Christmas.”
“Alright. But I’m gonna steal you for a nap at some point today.”
“That’s fine.”
Chris kissed her nose, walking back to the bathroom to resume whatever she had been doing before Doc had woken up. Doc just laughed a little to herself and went to collect all the laundry, first gathering hers and Chris’ from their room before traveling across the trailer to the second bedroom to grab Tala and Dereks.
The two hadn’t wanted to separate from Chris when the idea of the main 12 cleaners moving to a small lot near Fort Hope was brought up, so they had searched for months to find a trailer big enough to keep the two with them.
At first, Doc was slightly terrified at the prospect of potentially becoming a mother to the two teens, she knew how to fix broken bones and perform basic surgery but between med school and the collapse happening there wasn’t even a chance for her to think about having kids, but now she wasn’t to scared at the thought. Tala would follow her around and ask questions about med school, while Derek would sit next to her and lean on her while Doc read aloud to the whole family on stormy nights.
Things got chaotic for sure, there were a few occasions where she and Chris would have to break up fights between the two, but they were all alive.
She shoved the laundry into the washer, starting it before putting on her boots and opening the front door, “I’m going to check on the garden, Chris.”
“Alright be safe, and yell if you get trapped in a snowdrift.”
“That was one time!”
—---------------------
Chris laughed, shaking her head as Doc went outside into the snow. She got to work on cleaning the kitchen and moving the table over to make room for a Christmas tree. It wasn’t going to be very big, but it was something fun. Not to mention she had found a shit ton of silly ornaments when going back to her old house to grab a few things, so this gave her a way to display all the dumb shit she bought while drunk.
Snow fell gently outside and Chris poured the boiling water into cups, brewing tea for when her girlfriend came in from the cold. Peach tea for Doc, mint for Chris, though on occasion they’d both drink some sort of orange tea when the flu began to go around.
The sound of cursing reached her ear as the trailer door opened, Doc struggling out of her coat, “The snow blocked the greenhouse door, took me way too damn long to clear it.”
“I’m sorry love,” Chris helped her out of the bulky coat and the snow boots, “Tea’s ready. Was everything in order at the greenhouse at least?”
Doc sighed, “Yeah, it was. Should be all tidy for today, there’s no damage, and there’s no work that needs to be done.”
“That’s good at least,” Chris smiled a little as Doc hummed, handing her girlfriend the mug of tea before sitting on the couch, “Come here.”
Doc sat down and leaned on Chris, throwing her legs over the side of the couch while Chris shifted to allow Doc to lay against her torso. The two fell into silence, listening to the fire crackle and the wind pick up outside, making the snowflakes dance outside their home.
It was blissful, calm, one of the few moments they’d have that year and the next where they could sit in silence, doing nothing but lean on each other.
Despite wanting to fall asleep there on the couch, the two got up about an hour later, grabbing the box of Christmas decorations from the space under the trailer before the entrance got covered in snow. After a lot of cursing(and Chris falling over the box, barely catching the counter to stop from hitting the floor while Doc laughed), they got it in, opening it up to rummage through.
Chris handled the lights while Doc got to work putting together the tree and sorting through the rest of the decorations, making different piles for different areas. Slowly Chris got the lights on the tree and around the window, and together they put ornaments on the small tree.
“I bought this one to piss off my grandmother,” Chris held up a beer bottle ornament, “I was eighteen, in my first apartment. She insisted on me hosting Christmas that year, so I had to go out and buy decorations since I didn’t have any.”
“Let me guess, you bought all the ones you knew she’d hate?”
“Oh hell yea. Not only was I living in sin with my boyfriend, I had beer bottles on my tree and I was drinking a shit ton of mulled wine,” Chris laughed, “She was so pissed, scolded me the moment she saw it all. Dad didn’t care, and mama just wanted to stop my grandma from yelling, so she placed her crucifix necklace on the tree to placate the old bat.”
Doc shook her head, “Guessing she would’ve hated me then.”
“No, I don’t think so. She was hyper-religious and if you did something she didn’t like she’d let you know, but she did love me in her own way. The first time Jason was sick, he was maybe two months old, my mama wasn’t answering the phone so I called Gran. She hobbled her way to my house to calm me down and give me a chance to sleep off the panic while she fed him. Told me in the morning he’d be fine and I was doing a good job. Despite all the arguments we had, all she cared about was me being safe and happy. And you’ve kept me safe and happy for years, so she would've loved you.”
“Maybe. She was right about you doing a good job with Jason though.”
“In the beginning. Towards the end of his teen years, he was a little shit who loved to push his luck with the law.”
“Can’t imagine where he got that from,” Doc dodged the push and laughed, grabbing a silver garland from a pile, “I’m not wrong.”
“No, no you ain’t.”
“Think Tala and Derek would be pissed if I put this in their room?”
“Nope. Put some lights in there too, it’ll look like a Christmas bomb went off in there.”
Doc laughed, walking away into the room, and Chris watched her go.
—--------------
Quickly closing the curtain over the window, Doc hung the silver garland over the curtain rod, securing it before grabbing the Christmas lights.
The room had two bunks on opposite sides of the room, so Doc secured the lights at the end of Derek's bunk and strung it along to Tala’s, going back and forth until the lights were strung across the ceiling.
The red and green lights gave the room a soft glow once plugged in, the silver garland reflecting the light. It was perfect, and Doc unplugged the lights for now, excited to see what the teens would think when they came home.
Chris had finished decorating the tree when Doc exited the room, her girlfriend now focusing on making some cookies. More water was boiling for tea, and the smell of rosemary and hazelnut filling the air, Doc sat at the table, admiring her girlfriend. Chris had left her hair down but still held back from her face with her red bandana, and instead of her usual green jacket, she wore an oversized, maroon-colored sweater.
It was one of Chris’ sweaters that Doc had thrown on that morning, it was massive on her, covering her hands and nearly falling to her knees. It was comforting.
Chris turned around, laughing, “Why are you watching me?”
“I don’t know.”
“The TV does work, you can pop in one of the movies the kids found.”
“Holly took all the interesting movies remember? All we have is a burned CD of Say Yes to the Dress and some hallmark ones. And we promised Derek and Tala we wouldn’t touch them until Christmas Eve.”
“So turn on Say Yes to the Dress. We can eat cookies and drink as we laugh at the stupidity of brides who say they want something different and get a mermaid dress.”
Doc laughed, doing as she was told, looking out the window briefly before shutting the curtains, “Storms worse. Wonder if the kids made it?”
“Thought you said Holly would object to being called a kid,” Chris teased, “But they’re at Hope. Evangelo radioed and confirmed they are safe and sound, giving the general hell.”
“Poor John.”
“He’ll get a break around Christmas.”
“So in a week.”
“Yes, Sue,” Chris put the cookies in the oven and grabbed her bottle of Bourbon from the cabinet, “Which means we have a week to catch up on all chores and then do nothing.”
“Yeah true.”
Doc smiled, reclining and grabbing the throw blanket as the show began to play, accepting the glass from Chris once she sat down. Normally she’d scold, tell Chris she really wasn’t supposed to drink(or smoke) but today she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
They both knew it didn’t matter much now, there was a year, two at best, before Chris’ health got bad enough to keep her in bed or under constant painkillers. Doc didn’t have it in her to try and stop Chris from doing what she wanted now.
As if she sensed what Doc was thinking of, Chris wrapped an arm around Doc’s shoulders and squeezed tight, pulling her into a kiss and whispering, “Don’t go sad on me, I’m not leaving yet.”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s going on.”
“I know hun, but I’m gonna fight as long as I can. Gonna be a long while before I can’t annoy you.”
Doc laughed, her throat choking a little before she focused on the show, drinking the Bourbon and, once the cookies were done, eating to her heart's content.
—-----------
That’s how their week went, cleaning as best they could, shoveling out their door, watching the few movies Holly hadn’t borrowed for her sleepover a few weeks ago, and just sitting in silence holding onto each other.
There was excitement for Christmas, already they placed presents under the tree(Chris had labeled some from Santa, as both a joke and a way to try and excite Derek and Tala), and Doc had managed to make a small cake for the day.
They heard the kids before they saw them, the shouting and laughter of the siblings right before they burst through the door. Snow clung to both, and Derek pulled Chris into a hug the moment he took off his jacket, “We go the general to participate in a snowball fight, and Holly got him square in the nose with a snowball!”
“He actually stumbled back,” Tala giggled, “He wasn’t mad, he laughed a little, but it was hilarious.”
“You had fun, that’s what matters,” Chris put the two in a headlock before motioning to their room, “Go put your things away, dinners almost ready.”
Try as they might, Doc and Chris couldn’t hide their grins when the two ran into their room, laughing at the exclamations.
“Holy shit!” Derek was laughing, “Our room is glowing Tals!”
“Look at the window!”
Chris’ blue eyes sparkled at Doc, “Guess they like the decorations.”
“Probably,” Doc wrapped her arms around Chris’ neck, “It’s Christmas Eve.”
“So it is,” Chris smiled, leaning and pressing a kiss to her lover's nose, “It is Christmas Eve.”
“Ready for the marathon of cheesy Christmas movies and the kids fighting?”
“Always.”
Doc laughed, grabbing the pile of movies as Tala and Derek came back out, “Come on hooligans, movie time.”
“Fuck yea!”
“Language Derek,” Tala scolded lightly, before turning to Chris, “We got cookies mom?”
“Yes we do.”
“Yes!”
Doc put the movie in, sitting on the floor next to the teens. Chris sat behind her, pulling Doc back to lean on her, an arm settled around her waist as they watched random Hallmark movies.
—--------------
Tala and Derek were passed out on the floor, huddled together as they usually were. Doc watched them carefully for any signs of a nightmare before leaning back and closing her own eyes, pulling up the throw blanket and setting her head on Chris’ shoulder.
Their clock chimed, and Doc felt Chris kiss her head, “Merry Christmas, my love.”
Doc smiled slightly, “Merry Christmas, Jagi.”