A C-Set Story
Just a little holiday oddity that popped into our brains while Christmas shopping for one of our nieces. Merry Christmas, everyone.
"The authors would like to express our thanks to our beta, Steph -aka Rowan- for her help and advice. You're a doll, sis."
"A-a-achoo!"
"Bless you, Josiah," Rain said. She and Nathan were standing next to Casey's desk. The couple had just arrived and were talking to Casey when Josiah emerged from the small kitchen area where the coffeepot was set up.
"Thank you, Rain."
"Are you coming down with a cold?" Nathan asked his teammate.
"Uh, no," he said, grabbing a tissue from the box on Casey's desk. "I always get like this during the holiday season. I'm...allergic to poinsettias," he said, gesturing to the pretty red plant that Rain was holding in her hands.
Rain looked at the plant sheepishly. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize. I thought it might perk up Nathan's office, but I'll take it home instead. We wouldn't want you sneezing all the time."
"You couldn't have known, Rain, but I thank you for taking it with you. Achoo." Josiah quickly retreated to his office.
"It was a nice thought, Rain," Nathan said. "It'll look just as good on the dining room table."
Buck Wilmington strolled in. His eyes lit up at seeing the two pretty ladies. "Well, good morning, all. Rain, what a pleasant surprise. What brings you here? Nathan doesn't bring you around often enough," he remarked, kissing the woman's hand. With a snort, Nathan quickly reclaimed his girlfriend's hand.
"Rain's car is in the shop, so she dropped me off and will be taking my car today. And I don't bring her around much, so she doesn't have to put up with you." The black man grinned, softening his words. Buck just laughed and turned his attention to the team's office manager.
"And how are you this morning, darlin'" he asked Casey. She scowled.
"Buck, how many times have I told you to stop calling me darling? You're such a dope."
"Sorry. I just can't help myself," he said with a grin. "You're just too cute for words."
"And you're full of it."
"Buck, stop bothering Casey," Chris ordered as he and Vin came in from the cold. They went to hang up their coats.
Buck held up his hands in surrender. "All right, all right. Geez, you sure are grumpy this morning, Chris."
"I'm going to be even grumpier if you don't stop making a pest of yourself." Buck laughed as he hung up his coat and went into the small kitchen to grab some coffee. Chris turned to the group surrounding Casey's desk. "Morning, everyone."
"Morning, Chris. Hi, Vin." Casey said.
"Casey." Vin returned her greeting. "Your car start all right this morning?"
"Yeah. I appreciate you and JD putting that new battery in for me."
"Not a problem. I'd hate to have you get stalled somewhere."
"Good morning, Chris. Hello, Vin." Rain said.
"Rain, how are you this morning?" Chris asked, nodding a greeting to Nathan.
"Wonderful, I just love the holidays. How are you, Vin?"
Vin quietly replied, "I'm fine, Miss Rain. Nice to see ya. Morning, Nathan." He quickly headed to his office.
Rain chuckled. "I've never met such a shy man. It's kinda sweet."
"He's only shy around women," Buck said, returning from the kitchen.
"Good morning, everyone. Please excuse my tardiness," came a soft Southern voice. Ezra was yawning widely and his eyes were drooping. He hung up his coat, but it took him two tries, as his eyes were blurry and bloodshot. He looked like he hadn't slept much the night before. Buck, of course, assumed this had to be because of a woman. He was right, sort of.
"Morning there, sleepyhead," Buck teased. "Get kept up late by a lady friend, Ez?"
Covering a yawn with his hand, Ezra sighed. "My mother. She called at the ungodly hour of eleven last night to 'talk'. She forgets that there is a time difference between the California and Australia. By the time she was finished catching up, it was close to three o'clock in the morning."
"Well, grab some coffee, Ezra, try to wake up. Once everyone is here, assemble in the conference room. We have some files to go over," Chris said, heading to his office.
The front door opened with a bang. A blast of cold December air accompanied the young, dark-haired man that entered. "Man, oh man, it's beautiful out there. Sunny and cold and you can almost smell the snow in the air."
"It's the mountains, JD," Buck said with a grin. "There's always snow in the air up here in winter."
"But it's still great. Good morning. Casey, did your car start okay?" The others chuckled. Although it was clear that the two young people were attracted to each other, they were taking it slow, taking their time and getting to know each other. The others decided to leave the two alone. Buck headed for the conference room and Ezra zeroed in on the coffeepot in the kitchen.
"C'mon, Doc," Rain said. "Walk me out to the car. I need to get to the store and get ready to open. It's gonna be another busy day with Christmas being so close."
"Okay," Nathan answered.
The team was gathered around the small Christmas tree that had been set up in a corner of the office. It was noon, the day before Christmas Eve. The team was having a small office Christmas party before closing up the office for the holidays. They would be on call, but wouldn't be in the office until after New Year's unless an emergency arose. JD, wearing a jingling Santa hat, was busy passing around the gifts that had been placed under the tree. Although they would be gathering at Chris' house on Christmas day, they all agreed to exchange small inexpensive gifts here at the office. They had drawn names and each person should have gotten one gift, but once JD had finished, everyone had two.
"Okay, how did this happen?" Chris asked. "I thought we were all supposed to exchange one gift here." He looked at the second gift, saw that it was marked 'from Santa'. Intrigued, he opened the box, snorting as he pulled out the plush doll. Dressed in a blue elf suit, the doll was wearing the name 'Grumpy' on the hat. "Is this supposed to be a message?" he said, holding up the doll. The others laughed at his scowl.
"It seems I got a message, too." Josiah said, holding up his own 'Sneezy' doll. "I wonder who 'Dopey' is?"
"That would be me," Buck said sheepishly, holding up his doll. "I think I'm insulted. JD should be 'Dopey'. I'm more the Prince Charming type." Everyone rolled their eyes at that remark.
"Sorry, Buck. But I'm 'Happy'," JD grinned, pulling his doll out of the box.
"Of course you are, Mr Dunne," Ezra said. "And which Dwarf are you, Mr Tanner?"
"I'm 'Bashful'," Vin said.
"Well, duh, but what doll did you get, Vin?" Buck teased. Vin threw his rolled up wrapping paper at him.
"What about you Ezra?" Chris asked.
"Someone is obviously making a statement about my nocturnal slumbering," Ezra said, holding up his 'Sleepy' doll. But his grin belied the aggrieved tone he was using.
"That must make me 'Doc'," Nathan said, quickly opening his box to confirm his statement.
"That must mean Casey is our resident 'Snow White'," Josiah said with a smile at the young lady. Sure enough, Casey was pulling a doll out of her box too, this one wearing the recognizable garb of the Princess from Walt Disney's classic fairy tale cartoon.
"But who left these?" Chris asked. "Vin and I were the first ones in this morning. I could have sworn all these packages were already under the tree."
"They were, Cowboy, I'm sure of it," Vin stated.
"Who was the last one to depart yesterday?" Ezra asked.
"I locked up," Buck said, "but I was right behind the rest of ya."
"Then who...?"
"Looks like we got a mystery on our hands, pard."
"Well, we'll solve it after the holidays," Chris said with a sigh.
"I think it's pretty cute, myself," Josiah chuckled. "I'm going to find a place of honor for him." Taking his doll, he headed into his office. The others followed his example, all going into their own offices to find a place for their dolls.
Laying on top the desk was a catalog from the Disney™ store. A receipt was placed inside the catalog, marking the page that showed the dolls from the Snow White and the Seven Dwarves cartoon. A voice started whistling a tune that was easily recognized as the song the dwarves sang as they went to the mines. Putting the catalog away in the bottom of a drawer, Casey smiled.
THE END
Feedback to : Authors