DISCLAIMER: Bad Girls and all its characters are the property of Shed Productions. The author implies no ownership of these characters. They are used in the stories without permission solely for entertainment and not for profit.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I got the idea to this little Christmas vignette from a sweet song called "I saw Santa Claus kissing mum" (directly translated from Danish) with text / music by Susanne Palsbo and Tommy Conner.
CHALLENGE RESPONSE: Submitted for the Passion & Perfection Xmas Challenge 2005
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
I Saw Mummy Kiss Santa Claus
By TZ
On Christmas night miracles do happen.
It was one of those Christmases you would normally only encounter in fairy tales and postcards made to tempt people into dreaming of their childhood winters. But this year it was all well and true. It had been snowing for a fourth night before Christmas and the frost had prevented the thick white carpet of snow from melting. However, it had now stopped snowing and the clouds previously covering the dark sky had magically disappeared leaving the full moon shining white and bright. It made the snow crystals sparkle like small diamonds matching the millions of stars in the black night. No wind was blowing, only the biting frost was there making the air crisp and clean.
Nikki smiled a little wistfully as she stared out on the silvery white landscape. She sipped her hot tea and tried to remember when she had ever felt this good the night before Christmas. She could not really remember. Maybe sometime during her childhood had she enjoyed this special time of the year, though she was not completely sure that her family had ever been warm and loving. And as she had been thrown out at the age of 16 for being gay, well, then there was not much time left for her to enjoy such 'mundane' things as Christmas.
For several years the time where most people celebrated the holiday with their loved ones had been a rather unpleasant reminder to Nikki of how she had been forced to grow up and make her way all on her own at an early age. But she had managed and finally Trish had come along making the Christmas time bearable and even a little enjoyable too. At least the time when she had surprised her in their club wearing very little else than a Santa outfit. Nikki chuckled at the memory and rested her head against the window frame. Then some far less pleasant years had come.
Years spent in jail for protecting the one she had loved from being raped. She sighed still feeling the coldness of those years in her bones. Though she had made friends with several of the other inmates and they had celebrated the Christmas in some of the most amusing ways, it had still held some sadness and been a harsh remembrance of the lost love and warmth in her life. However, a few lights had been shining in the forms of a certain wing governor who had given her hopes of better times with a compassion and strength that no one had ever shown before.
She suddenly felt a presence behind her and she slowly turned around and looked into a pair of sparkling grey-green eyes shining with love, and Nikki knew that Christmas would indeed be wonderful.
Helen came into the living room with a cup of hot chocolate. She stopped dead in her track as her eyes caught the tall, dark figure standing at the window looking out into the garden. Her heart skipped a couple of beats she felt warmth spreading through her body. A gentle smile covered her mouth and she thought of how much this person had changed her life and made her enjoy Christmas once again. As a matter of fact she had never enjoyed Christmas as much as she did now, perhaps only when she was a child and her mother was still alive. When her mother died, her childhood dreams had died as well, including the enchantment of Christmas, though her father had tried to make it special for her. But it never felt quite right and in the end he had stopped making an effort.
She had never really paid much attention to Christmas for most of her adult life and her father had not really mentioned his disapproval of her not returning for the holiday while she was at the university. The years with Sean had not provided much of a change in her attitude towards Christmas. Sean had made some honest attempts to make it more appealing, but having to spend the time with his parents was not Helen's idea of a nice quiet and enjoyable Christmas.
The years after splitting up with Sean had not given her much reason for enjoying the season, spending the time alone thinking of the one person she would have loved to spend it with. But she was prevented by rules and physical barriers from showing her love freely. Prevented from showing exactly how much she loved the most wonderful person in the world. However, that was all in the past. Each Christmas during the last couple of years have been like a dream coming true with warmth, love and joy. She placed her cup on the table and walked up behind the lonely figure. She wanted to wrap her arms around the slender waist.
She stopped for brief moment and in that second the figure turned around and looked into her eyes with deep dark pools of love. Helen knew then that Christmas was again a most enjoyable time of the year.
They both stepped forward into each others arms and just stood in a loving embrace, forehead to forehead, nose to nose, breast pressing against breast, just holding on to each other tightly conveying all their love in the gentle touch. This was truly what home meant to them both. They had been through some rather rocky paths in their relationship. This was especially true in their first couple of years, when Nikki had been an inmate of Larkhall Prison and Helen her jailer. It was most definitively not the most optimal circumstances for a blossoming relationship. They had definitely had their heated disagreements and most aggravating arguments but at the same time they had shared a deep love and in truth a mutual understanding, though it did not always seem that way. There had been jealousy, mistrust, anger and complete disregard of all rules and regulations. A very tempestuous relationship, volatile and heart wrecking, made difficult or rather impossible by the boundaries of their respective place in the system. But in the end they had come out of it both stronger and more certain that they had to be together, no matter what was going to happen.
They had started on a new life together, a whole new chapter in the book of their life. It had not always been easy to turn the pages and they had had their fair share of arguments, but they were different from the previous ones. Their disagreements had been about true differences in opinions and not caused by frustrations or disastrous misunderstandings based on their insecurity or uncertainty about their feelings for each other. They had become more secure in their love and began to build up the trust that had been shattered so many times during their initial beginnings of their relationships. They had to carefully establish their belief, both in themselves and in each other. They slowly stepped apart after a single loving kiss.
"Come on… We better get started with the final decorations…if we are going to be finished before tomorrow." A smile played over Nikki's face and was mirrored in Helen's eyes.
An enormous Christmas tree was taking up a considerable amount of the space in the living room. Some silvery festoons were draped around the windows and a Christmas crib was placed on the mantelpiece. Several small Christmas elves were scattered randomly around the whole room in odd places. The fire was cracking and the whole scenery had a fairytale quality matching the snow-covered landscape outside.
Except for the tall figure balancing delicately on a ladder at the Christmas tree with a dangerous tilt trying to put different kind of decorations on the big tree.
"Holy sh…! Watch where you are going!" Nikki shrieked as someone bumped into her making her almost loose her footing on the small ladder as she tried to put the stars on the top of the Christmas tree.
"Oops, sorry… didn't see you there…" Helen giggled while balancing several boxes of Christmas decorations that covered her line of sight. She carefully placed them on the coffee table and began opening the lids. Her eyes sparkled in the golden glow from the fireplace. She exhibited an almost childlike enjoyment in the task of decorating for Christmas.
"What have you got there?" Nikki asked bemused as she saw the numerous boxes. "I thought we had already found it all." She had descended from the ladder and was curiously closing in on Helen and her Christmas decorations, which where spread out all over the coffee table.
"It's just a few extra things I found in the attic… Some of them might come in handy," Helen said actually beaming with excitement as she took out the various things from the boxes. She continued with great enthusiasm "I want to make it a special Christmas for Nicholas… He is old enough now to understand it… and still not too old to dismiss the whole idea of Santa Claus."
"You really do enjoy this, don't you?" Nikki smiled fondly at her spouse. The childlike enjoyment made her look much younger than her actual age and it also made her act with very little resemblance to the normally mature and organized woman in control of life.
"Yes… I never thought I was going to look forward to Christmas with such great appreciation again." Helen smiled up at Nikki with love colouring her voice. "It's really wonderful… You have made it such a special time for me again."
"Remember Christmas ten years ago?" Nikki suddenly said, a smile forming in the corner of her mouth.
"Aye…" Helen had a distant look on her face as she stopped briefly from her unpacking of the boxes.
"However, I was right miserable that whole Christmas," she said with a rueful smile. "I couldn't stop thinking about you in that horrible place." She shook her head as to get rid of the unpleasant memories.
"I just so much wanted to take you away from there and spend the Christmas time with you."
"It would have been nice," Nikki whispered. "But quite impossible." sorrow laced her voice as she continued. "I remember when you walked into the cell… It was like the whole room was warmed and the darkness in my mind disappeared and the coldness in my heart melted."
"I remember your face when you saw me…" Helen had tilted her head so she could look up into the very same face. "It was such a wonderful expression, full of love and happiness… It literally took my breath away and made me so happy that I had taken the time to stop by… I just wished I could have shown you then and there how much I loved you."
"The kiss actually did make a quite nice job showing me," Nikki smirked and had a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Aye, but it would have been nice to have shown you in detail," Helen said with a wistful smile.
"I guess it was a good thing it was Barbara who walked in on us and not some of the screws."
"We did make a spectacle out of ourselves… all flushed and breathless."
Helen chuckled at the memory of how they had sprung apart when the door opened without having time to straighten their clothes, leaving no doubt as to what they had been up to. It had not been very amusing at the time, but in hindsight it was quite funny. They must have been quite a sight for sour eyes. They had been embarrassed, but definitely felt relieved it was Barbara who had entered since she already knew of their relationship. She had smiled and told them that Sylvia 'Bodybag' Hollamby had been on her way for lock up.
"You had brought me a large amount of phone cards and some cigarettes… and a small silver pendant." Nikki smiled fondly at the memory. "I felt so bad that I hadn't been able to get you something, so I actually managed to persuade Trish afterwards to send you those flowers and the necklace."
"It meant a lot to me," Helen said quietly, smiling shyly at Nikki. It had humbled her to receive the necklace and especially the letter that followed it. It had been a love essay dedicated to her by Nikki. She had kept it in a secret place with other valued items from her life. The strong emotions it had ignited in her were still shaking her to the core, but she was no longer afraid to acknowledge its profound impact on her heart.
"Then remember six years ago?" Nikki said as her eyes sparkled mischievously.
"Mmm…. not really…" Helen said trying to look far more distracted than she actually was. Helen did not look up from her various nick-knacks, which she handled with great care as she unwrapped them one by one.
"No wonder… you were real grumpy all the time." Nikki could not help laughing at Helen's feigned outraged look.
"I was not!"
"Hey, you said you didn't remember," Nikki shot back while having a hard time keeping the amusement out of her voice. Helen just huffed and stuck her tongue out.
"If I were grumpy as you so eloquently put it, it was only because I was seven months pregnant and felt like an inflated walrus!"
"You were a very beautiful walrus," Nikki said with tenderness. Helen bit back her mock retort as she saw the sincere and loving gaze of her spouse. She smiled and gently traced Nikki's jaw line with a finger stroking her with lingering touches marvelling at the smooth skin. She could loose herself in the feeling and was mesmerized by the emotions that flooded her heart. She was pulled out of her musings by Nikki's soft voice:
"So how come you are not grumpy now?"
"Because I am only two and a half months pregnant, feeling so very happy, content and totally safe," Helen answered with a satisfied sigh before continuing. "And being in truly wonderful harmony with the Christmas spirit for the first time in my life." She then smiled that endearing smile of hers with her tongue just behind her teeth and a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Not to mention extremely amorous… it's those damned hormones running all wild."
"You don't hear me complaining,." Nikki said and smiled fondly at Helen. She then continued with a spark of amusement colouring her voice. "You know how I would really like to spend Christmas Night?"
"I have a pretty good idea," Helen said huskily as her eyes grew dark with desire. "And believe me I wouldn't mind surrendering to your every Christmas wish." She was cut off by a firm and insistent kiss, which she had difficulties ending. "But you know we have to finish the decorations tonight…" again her lips were trapped in a sweet assault leaving her quite breathless. "We… get… company… tomorrow… no… time… for…early… presents…" she stuttered between more kisses.
Just as quickly as the kisses had started they ended rather abruptly, as well as the warm embrace that had held her so tightly. Helen opened her eyes with difficulties only to see her spouse rummaging around in one of the boxes. She stumbled briefly to get her bearings right before starting to do the same and her face lit up in a big smile as she dragged something red and white out the box.
"Hey… look here, what I found!" Helen beamed at Nikki holding something big and red out to her. "A Santa outfit!" It triggered some rather naughty memories in Nikki, but she quickly suppressed them while concentrating on the Christmas decoration in front of her. It was in dire need of adjusting.
"And who do you suppose is going to wear that?" Nikki said wearily, suddenly having a sinking feeling of doom in the pit of her stomach.
"Well… Miss Wade… I think you have the perfect stature for that," Helen said poking Nikki in the stomach, as she had walked up in front of her.
"Hey! I'm not fat!" Nikki blurted, feigned to be hurt at the accusation.
"Nope… but you got the right height," Helen said smiling that endearing smile of hers, where she put the tongue just behind her teeth.
"It's not my fault you're so short," Nikki quickly retorted.
"Enough, Wade!" Helen commanded in her best wing governor voice. "Go on, put it on."
"Do you really think he will fall for that fake beard?" Nikki said looking rather doubtful.
"Of course… He won't have a clue," Helen said with determination. Nikki sighed and started to pull on the outfit. She was not completely convinced of the sanity in putting on a Santa costume. But if Helen wanted her to dress up for their son, who was she to argue? With that in mind she turned around to face Helen, who was very pleased with what she saw; in more than one way…
Little five year old Nicholas Stewart-Wade knew he was not supposed to be up this late, but something had woken him. He had looked forward to Christmas for a very long time, and now it finally seemed to come true. Tomorrow was Christmas day and Nicholas was sure that he would get some nice presents, because he had been a good boy the whole year. Well, except for that slight incident with the garden pond and mud pies he made and taken into the living room, but all in all he had behaved. And being up Christmas night was not counting, as being naughty, was it?
However, he felt a bit uncertain as he sneaked down the stairs, avoiding the cracking third step and shrinking into the shadows every time he heard a sound. But he was so excited and the curiosity was killing him. He simply had to know if Santa Claus had been at their house delivering their presents. Mummy Nikki had told him about how Santa Claus visited every house and family in the whole world Christmas Night, so everyone would get their presents in time for Christmas morning.
It had been such a wonderful story and little Nicholas could vividly imagine Santa Claus and his reindeers flying across the sky with the silvery light from a full moon as their companion. Carefully he inched closer to the living room door, wary of every little sound in the house. He knew the Christmas tree was supposed to be in the living room, and he knew that Santa Claus was supposed to come down the chimney and place the presents around, underneath the tree. The fire place was almost right next to the tree. Nicholas just hoped that Mummy Nikki had remembered to put out the fire, so Santa would not burn himself when entering the living room through the chimney.
As he moved closer to the living room he heard some strange noises from within. He hesitated for a brief moment, but his curiosity was peaked and got the better of him. Little Nicholas slowly pushed the door ajar, so he could take a look inside the living room without being detected by whoever was inside the room.
What he saw there right in the living room made his eye grow wide in astonishment. It was Santa Claus! In his red dress with white decorations, a black belt tied around his waist, big black boots, a red hat, and a big white beard covering most of his face. Only then did he notice something rather unusual about this specific Santa. Something that made him gasp in surprise and leaving his mouth hanging open.
Santa Claus was kissing Mummy Helen and she did not seem to resist. In fact she looked like she enjoyed it very much, making those small noises like when she was kissing Mummy Nikki. The spectacle playing out in front of his innocent eyes left him dumb founded and in a state of shock, yet strangely enchanted. Mummy Helen was actually kissing Santa Claus! He could hardly wait to tell his best friend about that. He was convinced that even Mummy Nikki would find it very funny and laugh at it. If only she had been here with him, then they could have enjoyed the little secret together. He would definitely have to tell her first thing in the morning.
Then he suddenly realized they had moved from the couch and was heading towards him. He knew he had to make a fast escape. He did not want Santa to find out that he had been a naughty boy sneaking around in the dark after midnight. He quickly and silently ran through the hallway and up the stairs, avoiding the cracking step, heading straight for his bedroom, where he pulled the door tight after him. He swiftly crawled under the duvet and closed his eyes, so no one would suspect that he had been up, if they were to look at him. They would think that he was peacefully asleep like a good boy. With the image of Santa Claus kissing Mummy Helen before his eyes he soon drifted off to sleep.
"Let's go upstairs, Santa…." Helen giggled and pulled Santa Claus to his feet. "I want my Christmas present now… I can't wait till tomorrow."
They moved toward the door to the entrance hall, but stopped briefly for another kiss, which soon became rather heated. They had not noticed the little dark shadow that quickly disappeared up the stairs. They were too absorbed in each other. As they got to the bottom of the stairs Nikki took off the fake white beard and pulled Helen in for another lingering kiss that once again quickly deepened and became more passionate, yet sweet and very loving. They slowly pulled apart, a bit breathless and flushed, but with sparkling eyes full of joyous playfulness.
"I know what you mean… I want my present too…." Nikki whispered, breathing warm air into Helen's ear making her shiver pleasantly.
They quickly went upstairs to the bedroom and made sure, that it certainly was a magical night of Christmas.
The End