#*cameron howe breaking through clouds like mufasa" you have to THINK ABOUT THE PHYSICAL SPACE OF THE ROOM!

[haltandcatchfiretothemax]

In which Cameron, Donna, Haley, and Joanie put up and decorate their Christmas tree

[CN: food, drink]

It’s the first week of December 1995, and Donna gets home a little early from work, and as she goes up to the kitchen, she hears Joanie ask Cameron, “Hey, so did Mom tell you that we’re trimming the tree on Sunday?” It’s mere days after a busy, emotional, but mostly lovely Thanksgiving weekend, and Cameron doesn’t say anything. Joanie says, “You’ll be there, right? I mean, you’ll be here anyway, for ‘work’ or whatever, won’t you?”

Donna, who’d decided to not risk scaring Cameron off with a firm invitation and had instead hoped that she would wander in as usual while they were decorating and then casually join them, gets up to the kitchen just in time to see Cameron’s eyes widen in panic, and feel her own face turn red. Hastily, she insists, “It’s not really that big a deal! It’s just gonna be us, putting up some decorations, and having popcorn and hot cocoa. And you don’t have to stay if you don’t want, you’re free to have an early night, go home after dinner.”

With an exaggerated and clearly uncomfortable shrug, and her voice an octave higher than usual, Cameron says, “Oh, sure, okay? Yeah. Cool. That should be great?” They don’t talk about it again for the rest of the evening. 

But Cameron returns that Sunday, of course, and she does wind up staying, until well after dinner. When she gets there, their artificial tree is already set up in the back corner of the living room, near the sliding doors that lead out to the pool, where a huge planter used to sit, and boxes of decorations have already been stacked on the armchair near the tree, spilling over to the nearest corner of the couch. When Joanie and Haley start opening the boxes of decorations after dinner, chatting and laughing together, Cameron suddenly finds herself unwilling to leave. Donna goes to put on some sweatpants, Joanie puts on some music, and before Cameron knows what’s happening, she’s unwrapping pieces of their nativity set while Haley unfurls a string of white lights. 

The lights are ready by the time Donna returns, feet slippered and hair pulled back into a bouncy ponytail, and she carefully wraps them around the tree while Haley and Joanie look for the tinsel (read: Haley looks, and Joanie ‘supervises’ her). Donna makes it looks easy, but she jokes, “Your father hated any and all decorations that involved lights, and I used to call him a grinch for it, but now I get it.” Long ropes of silver tinsel are next, and by that point, Cameron has helpfully pulled an excessive number of gold, silver, green, and red glass ball ornaments out of their protective old newspaper packaging. There are also dated ‘baby’s first Christmas’ ornaments for both Joanie and Haley, an ‘our first Christmas together’ ornament from the year Donna and Gordon got married, and a variety of Peanuts character ornaments.

Cameron lets Donna and the girls do most of the ornament placement, not wanting to get underfoot. She sits on the floor, a few feet away, surrounded by boxes, until Donna says, “Have you seen…?” just before she starts digging through their boxes of ornaments herself. After a minute, she says, “Here it is! Here, come hang this one!” Cameron gets up slowly and walks over to the tree, dusting off her jeans, and takes the ornament from Donna by its ribbon. It’s a tiny figurine of a little boy in red pajamas sitting at a computer — and an old one, it looks very much like the one Cameron wrote the BIOS on in 1983 — typing up a letter that says, “Dear Santa, I’ve been very, very, very good.” Even she has to it admit that it’s pretty darn cute, and she hangs it from an elbow height branch. Donna hands her a next ornament, and says, “Happy Holidata, Cam.” 

Cameron looks at it, and it’s another computer, but a slightly more recent model, and two white mice, one of them sitting on top of the monitor, and the other perched on the opposite edge of the keyboard. The monitor screen says, “Happy Holidata.” Cameron grins, and says, “Happy holidata to you too, Donna.” 

Before long, the tree is fully trimmed, they’re all admiring it from the kitchen. While Donna is fixing their snacks, Joanie presents Cameron with her own large red velvet Christmas stocking, ‘Cam’ lettered on its white cuff in what looks like shimmery gold 3D fabric paint. Embarrassed, Cameron tries to wave her away, “Oh, no, you don’t have to do that….”

As the popcorn starts to pop, Donna quips, “Looks like it’s already done,” and then turns her attention to microwaving their butter.

Cameron takes the stocking from Joanie and looks at it. She frowns, “I can’t remember the last time I had one of these.”

Nose wrinkling in judgement, Joanie says, “Did you and Tom just like, not do stockings? Or is that not a thing in Japan?” 

Cameron sighs, “He had a stocking, at his mom’s house, which is where we always went. They kept forgetting to make mine, and when I said that sometimes it felt like it was intentional after three years, Tom told me that I was being childish.” 

Haley silently mouths a shocked ‘wow,’ and Joanie, outraged, says, “WELL, we didn’t forget, so your stocking will be hung with care here in the living room, on Mom’s weird modern fire place thing.”

Cameron opens her mouth to say something, but then stops, and then starts again, “But wait, won’t that be like, confusing? If my stocking is in your living room? When I don’t live here? I mean, like. For…Santa?”

Haley and Joanie both turn to look at Cameron as if she’s just asked the most ridiculous question. Donna, who’s just gotten a large bowl from the cabinet, puts it down so she can place her hands on island counter and nail Cameron with a very boardroom-type glare. In the most serious voice Cameron has heard her use since the night she left Mutiny, Donna says, “I’m sorry, are you suggesting that Santa Claus and his team of experienced professionals can’t figure this out? Do you think yours will be the first non-resident stocking situation for which they’ve had to prepare?” 

Cameron is so shocked that she momentarily actually wonders if Donna might have information regarding the existence of Santa Claus that she isn’t privy to. She thinks to herself, “I mean I wouldn’t put it past her…” and then, feeling silly, Cameron says, “No, you’re right, that sounds very obvious now that you’ve said it out loud.” Both Haley and Joanie struggle not to laugh, and then Cameron says, “But what if…I mean, I’m not sure I’ll be here on the 25th?”

Donna’s face falls. “What do you mean, you’re not sure you’ll be here? Were you invited somewhere else?”

Feigning only a little more outrage than she feels, Joanie says, “What, is there some other hot middle aged mom with two charming teenage daughters that you’ve been hanging out with?”

“Joanie Marie!” Donna hisses.

Cameron and Haley finally laugh at this, though, and Cameron says, “No, you guys are the only hot middle aged mom and charming kids in my life.” (Joanie glances over at her mom, and sees her blush.) “But I didn’t know…I didn’t want to assume that I was invited, that’s all.”

Exasperated, Donna sighs, “Of course you’re invited. Will you grace us with your presence on Christmas Day, then?”

Cameron wishes she could sound believably excited or even happy, but that’s something she’s never been very good at, so instead, she quietly says, “Sure, I would love to.”

Joanie says, “Well, now that that’s finally settled…” and goes over to the fireplace, and hangs all of their stockings. The popcorn is ready and waiting in its bowl (Cameron adds more salt to it), and Donna is pouring out mugs of cocoa (Cameron adds too many marshmallows to hers). 

Joanie comes back, picks up her mug, and says, “Okay, so what are we toasting to, then?”

Donna raises her mug, and says, “To my kids thinking that I’m a hot middle aged mom.”

Joanie rolls her eyes, and says, “It’s just objectively true, Mom, don’t get a big head over it. Um, okay, here, to found family?”

Haley adds, “And to celebrating with them, even though sometimes it feels sad.”

They all raise their mugs, and say, “To found family, and to celebrating with them,” and they drink.

#it's possible that the biggest challenge i've dealt with while writing fic? is figuring out where the FVCK donna put the tree #i don't understand her house! i love it but i don't get it! #*cameron howe breaking through clouds like mufasa* YOU HAVE TO PUT YOURSELF IN THE PHYSICAL SPACE OF THE ROOM! #*cameron howe breaking through clouds like mufasa" you have to THINK ABOUT THE PHYSICAL SPACE OF THE ROOM! #anyways happy holidays guys!!! #fic #fanfiction #cameron howe #donna clark #donna emerson #haley clark #joanie clark