Chapter 12

12

A very well spent hour and a half later, the Bentley pulled up in front of an antique looking three story building in downtown Los Angeles. Cath recognized one of the massive upscale department stores, the kind that seemed slightly out of place amongst the boutique stores that lined the block but who’s devoted clientele had kept the doors open and the lights on for a century or more. The large bay windows were beautifully decorated with a flowing winter scene, a mixture of green forest and white snow showcasing a range of winter sporting gear as Christmas gift ideas. Hanging like stars across the top of the scene where ice blue Christmas bulbs acting as falling snow.

The building was surprisingly quiet looking, given it was the height of the shopping season and while the lights were shining bright and Cath could see people moving about through the windows, it seemed less than full capacity. Kris hadn’t lied about it being casual, there was no one outside and if there were press, they were in the building. If this was what the evening was going to be like, she might just make it through with it without any battle scars.

As Darren navigated the car into a parking spot, Cath took a steely breath and tried not to let on how nervous she actually was. She mentally straightened her spine and tried to pull out of the cool reserve of icy demeanor she normally had on tap when dealing with social situations.

“You ready for this?” Kris took one of her hands in his and massaged it reassuringly.

“Absolutely.” Cath waited as Darren came around to the passenger side and opened the door, then stepped out with Kris sliding across the seat and following her. They made their way up the sidewalk to the large main entrance, and with a flourish he opened the door for her with a low dramatic bow.

Stepping inside the store, Cath was met with the familiar Christmas scents of cinnamon and cloves. She breathed deeply, awash in the memories that the smells brought and taking in the store’s decorations of silver and gold garlands. A 9ft tall, fully decorated Douglas fir took up a good portion of the lobby and through the store’s sound system she could hear the faint strains of instrumental holiday music playing softly. Aside from that, the store was quiet, no bustling hub of shoppers, a sight and lack of sound that was eerie given how chaotic the season was for retail.

From a large set of double doors off the lobby, a reed-thin woman with hair the color of copper wire emerged with a smile. Cath watched as she spotted them and hurried in their direction eagerly.

“You made it; I was afraid the traffic had eaten you alive.” She appraised Kris once over, stopping at his injured arm and shook her head in censure. “What the hell did you do to yourself now Avery?”

“It’s good to see you too, Jennifer,” he said, reaching out and folding her into an amicable hug.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jennifer grumbled at the fact he pointedly ignored her question. “Good to see you too.”

Kris turned to Cath, pulling her forward so he could introduce her. “Cath, this is Jennifer Greene, she went to high school with my sister Sandrine and I. Jennifer, this is my girlfriend, Lieutenant Colonel Cath Black. United States Special Forces.”

The love and pride were evident in his voice, causing her heart to skip for a moment. She reached out a hand and shook Jennifer’s warmly. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Jennifer raised an eyebrow and lowered her voice. “Kris, you lucky bastard, she’s even prettier in person. You really do have a horseshoe up your ass lately, don’t you?”

“You have no idea.” Kris rolled his eyes and turned back to Cath. “Jennifer runs the charitable foundation for LA Children’s hospital. Although you’d never know it with her mouth.”

“You’re one to talk.” Jennifer snorted. “I could tell Cath here lots of red band tales from our misspent youth.”

“Don’t we have people waiting for us?” Kris reached into his coat pocket and slid on his sunglasses, obviously eager to change the subject. Cath made a lot of effort to try and get Jennifer alone at some point in the night; she wanted to hear every story she could.

“You’re lucky you're right, I have to get back before the guests get restless.” Jennifer turned back towards the doors. “Five minutes until we start, okay?”

“You got it.”

As they reached the double doors, Kris stopped them momentarily, reaching out and pushing a stray lock of her hair out of her face. “So, I have to warn you, the people you are going to meet inside are very nice, but they are also the most honest and critical lot I have ever met. Watch your back, they can sense weakness and they’ll tear you to pieces.”

“Is this why you wouldn’t tell me anything?” Cath thought back to earlier and again wistfully wished she was as prepared as she normally would be walking into a situation with potential enemies, at the very least she wished she had brought her bracers, just for peace of mind. “You were afraid I wouldn’t come?”

“No, of course not.” Kris cleared his throat and to her surprise actually looked like he was feeling awkward. “I just like driving you crazy.”

Cath got the feeling that wasn’t the whole truth but given that she wasn’t the most talkative at the best of times, she wasn’t going to push him and potentially ruin their evening. “Of course, you do.”

Kris tucked her close to him and opened the door with a slight flourish. “Okay, here we go…”

They stepped inside a large well decorated room and the first thing Cath noticed was the volume of noise, it was loud and boisterous, a well-managed chaos. Her eyes were immediately drawn to a large structure in the middle of the room, painted to look like Santa’s Workshop. Tall and wide, it was decorated in shades of green, red, and white, to look like an old-fashioned cottage with worktables and toys strewn about. Another Christmas tree decorated like the one in the lobby was standing nearby with an overflowing red velvet bag sat nearby surrounded by gifts. Sitting in the middle of the postcard ready scene was a large red chair with an overstuffed green cushion perched in the seat.

Cath’s attention was so fixated on taking in the Christmas scene, that it took her a moment to realize the noise in the room begun to quiet down. She pulled her eyes to the crowd and realized it was an even 40/60 spilt of adults and children ranging from infants to about nine or ten years old. She carefully assessed the crowd, getting the feeling she was being assessed right back as little eyes focused on both her and Kris. Before she could ask what was going on, Kris took charge, and for once she was glad of the Hollywood charm seemed to ooze out of his pores when he needed it.

“Hey kiddos!” Kris’s tone was enthusiastic as he pulled Cath fully into the room with him and let the door slide shut behind them. “Are you guys ready to have some fun?”

In two seconds, flat, Cath found herself surrounded by little bodies as the children swarmed Kris with an alarming familiarity. He laughed and reached out, fluffing the hair of a little boy hugging his leg and winced as another little boy tried to cling on to his free arm. “Easy guys, easy. I’m still kind of broken.”

Cath’s eyebrows raised so far; she was certain they were now permanently lodged in her hairline. She stood in stunned amazement, watching as he practically turned into a big kid himself, getting down to their level, talking to every child who crowded around him excitedly, even accepting a Santa band-aid on his sling from a shy little girl perched in her father’s arms.

After a moment he looked in her direction and straightened up with an expression of apology. “Okay kids, I want you to meet someone.”

Cath took the outstretched hand he offered and allowed herself to be drawn into the fray. For a moment, staring at a sea of small faces, she felt overwhelmed, shocking for a hardened soldier who had faced down opponents three times her size.

As if sensing her unease, Kris drew her close to his side. “This is Cath, she’s a friend of mine. I need you to be really nice to her, she’s never been here before.”

“Is she your girlfriend?” A small boy from the back yelled out as his mother turned slightly red and shushed him.

“She is, and I really like her, so we need to make sure she feels welcome, okay?” Kris chuckled and Cath was sure she saw his cheeks go a bit rosy, as if he was nervous or slightly embarrassed. She reached out and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, watching his eyes light up as he realized she wasn’t going to bolt from the room.

“Hi,” she said tentatively, “It’s nice to meet all of you.”

“Are you a movie star too?” Before Cath could move, she found a little girl wrapped around her waist. She froze for a moment, unsure of what to do then gave in and wrapped an arm around her in return.

“No, I'm a soldier.” She said, wondering how much detail she should actually go into and what was appropriate for children this age. Apart from a few colleagues on base, very few people she knew had kids and she could have counted her experience with children in very brief minutes. Her response immediately elicited a flurry of questions:

“Do you fight bad guys?”

“Do you use a gun?”

“Are you a superhero?”

“Do you know the president?”

Cath held up her hands with a laugh as she tried to think of the right answers to the barrage of questions.

Before she had to answer, Jennifer appeared out of the aether and began to round the children up. “Shall we get started?”

Cath threw her a grateful glance as the children began to follow her towards the workshop. She turned to Kris with a slightly stunned look, watching as he dissolved into laughter at her expression. “Explain please?”

“Come on, we’ll walk and talk.” He began to lead her across the room towards the edge of the workshop. As they moved across the room, Cath got glimpses of other activities set up, a ball pit with red and green balls had been constructed in one corner and a small bouncy castle had been inflated beside it. There was a table set up where children could decorate cookies, and another where they could make ornaments. In the other free corner of the room, several televisions had been set up with gaming consoles and bean bag chairs. Christmas music was playing loudly, and tables of food and drink were set out alongside an eating area where people could sit down.

“What is all this?” Cath asked. “What did we just walk into?”

Kris tucked an arm around her waist, and she could see he was trying to think of the right words. She could almost see a ‘screw it’ look in his eyes when he finally spoke, going for the truth. “Remember how I said Jennifer runs the charitable foundation for LA Children’s hospital?”

Cath nodded, realization sinking in, even as he continued to explain. There was a careful tone to his voice, as if he had rehearsed how he was going to explain the whole night to her. She realized suddenly that given he was used to rehearsing lines and scenarios, he may very well have practiced how he was going to explain this evening to her; personally, if she had been dropping him into this chaos, she absolutely would have.

“These kids are from the Pediatric Cardiology and Oncology wards. Most of them are long term patients, they spend months, even years in and out of the hospital. They don’t get to go home for Christmas, so every year I throw them a party. Jennifer helps me coordinate it through the hospital, so they come here, play, eat, see Santa, get some presents. They get to be kids for a little bit, have Christmas and feel normal.” Kris took a breath after the long explanation, and she knew he was waiting to see how she would react. Cath’s heart went out to him, this was obviously something he kept close to his chest, and he was sharing it with her, she knew how important that was. “Some of the adults here are parents, some are nurses if parents have to be at home. We try to make it so everyone who is able to come out, can actually make it.”

“So, what do we have to do?” she asked gently, “Are we playing Santa and Mrs. Claus?”

“No, although you’d make a stunning Mrs. Claus.” Kris smiled and pointed to a switch off to the side of the workshop. “We’re here to light up the village, take some pictures and spend time with the kids. Then we’ve got shopping to do.”

They reached the switch and waited patiently as Jennifer and the other adults rounded up the kids into a group. Cath couldn’t help but laugh, seeing how excited the children were at the idea of Santa coming. She glanced at Kris and was momentarily overcome with emotion; she’d never seen him look so excited. She leaned into him and felt him press a kiss to the top of her head, lingering and resting his cheek on her hair.

“All right, are you kids ready for Santa?” Jennifer’s voice rose about the crowd, and Cath had to admit she was impressed. She’d seen four-star Generals without that much vocal projection and ability to control a crowd. “Can we get a countdown?”

The children went wild for a moment in their enthusiasm before falling into an excited hush. Jennifer gave a nod and Kris took Cath by the hand again. “That’s our cue.”

She laid her hand on the switch and he covered it with his own as the kids began to count down to one:

“3 …”

“2…”

“1…”