"Come on, sleepyhead, it's time to deboard~" Sugarbell descended as a warm hug and a gentle kiss to Rick's forehead and he was roused by the cacophony of other passengers climbing over one another to hurry off the plane. "Did you have a nice dream? I saw you twitching like a puppy kicking its legs. Actually, I took a video, do you want to see?"
Rick shook his head and smiled. A whole year with this woman, to the day, and never once had she allowed herself to dip out of adorability. She stood within the mass of people and let them flow around her easily like water, as if she could slip through at any moment she pleased, and that much was one-hundred percent true. Once she'd taken his hand in hers, they retreated from the fuselage into the terminal with such ease that the crowd might as well have not been there for her guidance.
They'd packed light, no more than a carry-on bag for each of them, considering where they were going. It had been a while since Rick had been back in his home state, but then an airport looked the same on any end, with the exception of the merchandise on offer.
He looked at his watch. "We must have had a tailwind the entire way here; we're an hour early. If I know my sister, and I do, we're going to be waiting an hour at least, now."
At his side, Sugarbell clung to his arm while peering into the shops. "I know I said that I could beg a ride on the sleigh again, if you wanted, but I'm glad that we chose to take the slow way. Look, they have sweaters for sale with Bigfoot on them~ Isn't that adorable? Do you want one? Do you want me to wear one for you?"
But, maybe it would be nice to see his girlfriend as a tourist once in a while. Her pointy ears were bouncing up and down as she lifted herself on her heels to see over the swells of the crowd and her cheeks pinked by excitement; Rick could almost forget the last several hours of being crammed into a tube with a few dozen mouth-breathers, since he could see this on the other end. Sugarbell hadn't lost a beat, because of course she didn't, she was too perfect; she'd talked the ear off a couple from Arizona until the in-flight movie stole their attention and she had to content herself napping on his shoulder.
"I have some already," he said. "Are you sure it isn't you who wants another sweater?"
Sugarbell pursed her lips in thought and obviously fake affront, tugged at the hem of her adorably hideous holiday sweater (it jingled quietly every time she moved). "I'd rather wear one of your sweaters, if it came to that. I always feel cozier in your clothing."
He pushed them through to a bench in front of a storefront so that he could text Katherine that they had arrived early. A moment passed before he got a response in nothing but emojis that amounted to "I'm still getting into the car."
"It looks like we'll have some time to look around, I suppose. It might be expensive, but we could grab a bite somewhere around here if you're peckish."
"Nope." Sugarbell mildly scolded him by poking his nose. "Don't you know we have to keep an appetite for later? What will I tell your mother if you can only get through two plates of home cooking before you have to take a break for it all to settle? Not to mention there will be snacks, and candy, and dessert! You said that she's making three pies? And that's on top of lunch!"
"Maybe more." His mother would be trying to blow his girlfriend out of the water, but she'd be fighting an uphill battle against an elf's homemaking... "Alright, you don't have to convince me not to pay these obscene airport prices for a slice of pizza."
She'd turned around on the bench and her eyes were glued to a novelty Bigfoot-themed travel mug. "I don't think it's obscene."
"No?"
She idly shifted back and forth, rubbing her shoulder against his arm. "No, not at all. It's all about economics, after all. You have a commodity that's related to how many things can be crammed into the same space, that is: there can only be so many shops. They have to pay for the space, and that raises prices, but they also get to have a captive customer base, so they can raise their prices to a certain point so that they aren't losing money. And, you know, it isn't as though the option isn't there to drink at the water fountain or pack a bag of pretzels to snack on."
"I suppose not..."
In the crowd, a little boy had separated from his guardians and waddled up to Sugarbell. He'd been staring up at her, sucking on his thumb long enough that Rick was going to say something before the little boy finally spoke up. "Are you a elf?" he asked.
Sugarbell brightened and bent double, hugging her legs so that she could speak to the boy on his level. "Why do you think that?" Her grin was infectious, as if there were any doubt that this woman was an elf. From the candy-cane leggings to the pointy ears, it was weirder that more people didn't notice.
"Ears!" the little boy said and pointed.
"Oh no, you can see them?" Sugarbell clapped her hands over her ears, having the time of her life. She couldn't fool anyone with the shocked expression she'd put on, the way her green eyes sparkled. "You're a really smart man, aren't you? Not just anyone can see, you know~ But you've got me; I'm an elf."
The little boy hopped in place, glowing with excitement. "Do you know Santa!?"
"Of course I do~ He's really nice, and he's going to come over to your house tonight, I know, since you've been a good boy this year, haven't you?"
Rick knew that look of uncertainty that passed under the boy's eyes. He didn't have anything to worry about; there was hardly anything that could get a five year old on the naughty list, if Rick's assessment of Santa's character was on the money. And Sugarbell's expression hadn't moved one millimeter to suggest anything to the contrary.
The boy said, "Can you ask him to bring a bike?"
Sugarbell tilted her head. "Don't you think it's a little late to ask Santa to bring something? I'm sure that he has a gift planned for you that you'll just absolutely love, and if he doesn't give you a bike this year, there's always next year, if you're a good boy~"
"You think so?"
"Why, I know it for sure~Â But say, buddy, do you know where your parents are?"
The little guy turned in place, looking out into the crowd until his neurons started firing again and he came back with tears in his eyes.
"That's okay buddy, we'll help you out, c'mon."
Sugarbell took him by his sweaty little hand and put him onto her shoulders so that he'd have a better chance of spotting his folks, likely the only ones in the crowd frantically looking for a little boy who should have been on a leash in the first place, while walking him over to the nearest help desk. There would be a public announcement system if nothing else worked. And Rick followed at more than a few paces back, since Sugarbell was difficult to mistake for someone with unwholesome intentions (as he had, when he first met her, in what should have been his locked apartment). She'd even begun singing a little Christmas jingle to get the kid's mind off of things without taking his eyes off the crowd.
There at the desk were a couple who were trying to get an announcement of their own out: a father who took his son off of Sugarbell's shoulders and flicked his ear, and a mother who swept Sugarbell up into a hug. They tried to give her some money, but of course Sugarbell was more than happy to have done the right thing and she came back to Rick glowing merrily.
"Good thing you were here," he said when they'd found enough of an alcove that they could hear one another.
Sugarbell shrugged, drew his arms around her while resting back against his chest. "It's the least I could do, when I was was the reason he got waylaid in the first place. You know, I haven't actually been an elf for a mall Santa yet? I hear a lot of them complain, but it's not that bad at all if it's only one kid, I suppose."
"Right, you've said before that the north pole populates those to get a feeling for what gifts to give out." Rick set his chin on Sugarbell's head and enjoyed the scent of peppermint. "It's been a year, but it's still hard to believe that, when there have to be hundreds of those events every year."
She rolled her head back and forth on his chest idly, more peppermint. "Thousands. But we only send out a few hundred elfs every year. The rest of it is all statistics, you see? People are more similar to one another than they are different, when it comes down to the wire. It's only when there are exceptions to the rule, like you, that we have to get directly involved." Sugarbell turned up her chin and kissed his cheek. "That's when things are best, when we get to see the results of our work and the happiness on the faces of the people."
Rick hugged her more tightly and touched his lips to hers briefly. "Trying to fish for a compliment, are we? Here's the fish: you've made me plenty happy."
She giggled, that's precisely what she was doing and she'd known that he would know it. "So, what kind of person is your sister? I've seen the pictures, but you're always so quick to change the topic when your family comes up. I'll be meeting them in just a little while, so it's your only chance to set the record straight before I see with my own eyes. And don't say it's embarrassing when I know the way my mother was chatting you up last year."
"Don't try that. You know as well as I do that you'd've put her on a silver platter if I asked for her that first night."
She shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'd've been more selfish if I thought I was at risk of losing you. Or maybe I'd've seen that you weren't the kind of guy that I liked." The words were a little harsh, but she didn't believe a word of their little alternative history. "Morals do get a little warped when you live for hundreds of years. I think she'd be fine with sharing. Maybe a Christmas gift idea for another year?"
Rick turned her around forcefully to pin her against the wall and stare down into her impish expression. "Keep playing with fire like that and there might be consequences."
More smug, giggling like a brat, Sugarbell pinched the hem of his shirt. "Ooh? You're going to punish me? I'd like to see you try."
"You'd like me to punish you, is what you mean."
"You know me too well~" Sugarbell wiggled within his shadow. "So, spanking? You'll have to wait until we get home, to discipline me properly, my love~"
"I don't know," he said, slipping his hand around her body to cup one sweet cheek. "We've got a solid half hour before my sister is supposed to be here, and I'm sure we could find somewhere that there aren't so many spectators. Or do you want to be able to sit when we get to my parents' house?"
