*
“I do not understand the purpose of this, Prince Jake.”
“I keep telling you, don’t call me prince.”
“Yes, Prince Jake.”
“Why do I bother?” asked Jake, rolling his eyes.
“Spirit of Christmas, complete with dumb optimism?” Marco offered, bringing back 3 cups of eggnog.
The three sipped in silence – except for
Ax’s ‘mmm’s’ – and watched the party in full swirl just through the door.
The tiny room that had once been the entryway - before Rachel had unintentionally
morphed elephant and crashed through half the ceiling - was one of the
few quiet spots in the entire ground floor. Ax had already passed
inspection as Marco’s cousin with Rachel’s mother, and as Jake’s cousin
with Marco’s father, so the Animorphs relaxed and enjoyed one of few times
that all of them could be together in public without arousing
suspicion.
Rachel’s mother had thrown an open-house
Christmas party on December 22 every year, for as long as anyone could
remember. Most of the few really good memories that Rachel and Jake
had of their relationship
pre-Animorphs had come from these parties.
Everyone in the neighborhood, as well as half the rest of the
town dropped in at some point.
“So where are the others?” Jake asked.
Marco swallowed and replied, “Tobias is morphing in Rachel’s room, Cassie and Rachel are the kitchen with your Aunt Naomi.”
“And Tom?”
“In the study watching the big game with half a dozen other guys.”
Cassie was laughing as she came through the doorway, wearing a sweatshirt displaying a picture of Santa stuck in the chimney, and red ribbons woven through her hair.
Jake’s eyes brightened and he told her, “I like your hair, Cassie.”
“Thanks, Rachel did it,” Cassie said, still laughing. “You know Mr. Bellows?”
“That mean guy two houses down?” Jake asked. “He once chased Rachel and me right down the street in a rage when we were five. I wouldn’t go anywhere near the house for a year.”
Cassie grinned and nodded. “He’s wearing this really disgusting looking green sweater, and Sara just told him that he looked like a frog. He swelled up like a bullfrog about to pop!”
Marco choked on his eggnog, Ax looked puzzled, and Jake threw back his head and laughed.
*
“What’s so funny?” Rachel asked, leaning on the doorway. In honor of the season, she was wearing a red velvet dress with a fitted bodice, long sleeves and flared skirt.
Cassie turned to her and said, “I was just telling them about Mr. Bellows-at-everyone.”
“Who?”
Rachel turned her head to see Tobias standing beside her in the doorway. As she explained it to him, she didn’t see Marco’s eyes light up in unholy glee.
“Right on time, Bird Boy!”
“What?” Rachel asked. She was about to move forward, when Marco held his arm out like a crossing guard.
“Freeze!” he commanded. He gestured towards Ax and said, “We’ve been trying to explain one of our fine holiday traditions to Ax, and he still doesn’t get it. Maybe a demonstration would help.”
“Tradition? What tradition – oh,” Tobias broke off.
Rachel followed his gaze upwards, to see
the sprig of mistletoe attached to the top of the doorway. “I thought
Mom put that up in the living room doorway,” she said. She looked
at Marco, who put his hands up in a
gesture of innocence, while still looking
incredibly smug. She shook her head, and out of the corner of her
eye saw a change in Tobias’ expression, imperceptible to anyone but her.
She hastily explained to everyone, “What happens if my Mom sees?
How are going to explain that?”
“Your Mom’s gone for more drinks, she told me after you left,” Cassie chipped in.
Rachel looked at Tobias, standing right next to her in the doorway. Tobias had kissed her once before, during their adventure with the Time Matrix, but it had been fast and inspired by gratitude that she was still alive. Ever since then, she’d dreamed about it happening again a lot slower, so she could really enjoy it. But despite the depth of feeling between them, so deep she could almost see it in the air around them at times, they’d never actually come out and said anything definite about it.
Rachel decided to live up to her fearless
reputation, and reached out to curl her hands around the back of Tobias’
neck, and brought him closer to her. She could feel his skin quiver
under her touch, and her heart
leaped in anticipation before settling
down into a faster, pounding beat.
*
Tobias struggled to control his trembling
as he moved closer to Rachel. He’d kissed Rachel once before, but that
had been after he’d seen her chimp morph get blown in half. It had
been the only time he’d kissed anyone, in as long as he could remember;
he’d only just started to get interested in girls before he met Rachel,
and
after he met her he didn’t want to kiss
anyone else.
He could feel the heat building in his blood, making it run like lava through his veins, and the heat came from her. From Rachel. She smelled like eggnog and the bayberry candles burning through the house, and the scent of her made him dizzy.
His nose bumped hers, and they both half-smiled,
then his lips met hers and the world disappeared. Her lips were soft
and warm and everything he’d dreamed of for the past two years. He
felt one of Rachel’s arms
slid around his neck, and the other hand
against the back of his skull, pressing him closer to her. He knew
that she was enjoying this every bit as much as he was, and the thrill
went right through him to his soul.
*
Jake fought to keep his jaw from hovering around his belt buckle, as Rachel and Tobias kissed softly, then with an intensity that he’d never seen outside TV. He’d known that they cared for each other, but he didn’t realize it was this strong! It made the kiss he’d shared with Cassie during the fight against the Howlers look like a couple of kids playing house.
Beside him, Marco looked impressed, before snickering and saying loudly, “Hey, we need a firehose over here!” He looked even more impressed when Tobias and Rachel ignored him. As far as Jake could tell, they hadn’t even heard Marco.
*
Rachel blindly wrapped her arms around
Tobias to bring him closer, and felt him reach up to cradle her face in
his hands. As Tobias backed her up against the side of the doorway
and pressed his body against hers,
she felt the hard wood against her spine
for a second, then ignored it. Everything was second to the electric thrill
running through her body and the pounding
of her heart, which demanded < deeper, harder, closer, more >.
*
Cassie couldn’t stop the grin spreading across her face as she watched the couple in the doorway. She knew her best friend better than Rachel thought she did, including the fact that Rachel’s fearlessness in battle often equaled her uncertainty with the people she cared for. Rachel and Tobias had spent the past two years dancing around their feelings for each other, though no one else had been fooled. Cassie had known that if someone didn’t do something, they’d go another two years without resolving what was between them.
*
Tobias’ head was still spinning as he and Rachel broke off, both of them breathing hard. He gazed into her tourmaline blue eyes, wondering what to stay. He only pulled his eyes from Rachel’s as his uncle’s voice broke him from his haze.
“I still do not understand the purpose of this. At the end of the Earth year, people attach a plant to doorways, in order to embarrass two other people by making them attach their mouths?” Ax asked.
All the other Animorphs started to laugh, and Marco put his hand on Ax’s shoulder and told him, “Ax, if you don’t get it after THAT demonstration, I’m not sure you ever will.”
Tobias reached around to find the table just behind him in the hallway, and carried a jug of eggnog into the room. After everyone filled a cup, they held up their hands and ‘clinked’ their plastic cups together.
“Make a wish for Christmas, everyone,” Jake said.
Tobias couldn’t stop himself from blurting out, “I don’t have to.”
Jake, Cassie, and Marco hid their smiles
as they drank, and Ax just looked puzzled again. Rachel smiled at
him, and he knew he didn’t have to say the rest: that his wish had already
come true.