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polikszena · 1 year

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Ficlet Advent Calendar 2022 - December 2

Title: Christmas in July

Fandom: The Lost City

Characters: Loretta Sage, Alan Caprison, Beth Hatten

Relationships: Loretta/Alan

Word Count: 964

Rating: Teen and up audiences

Summary: Loretta Sage has to write a Christmas special to the adventures of Dr Lovemore and Dash, but she hasn't celebrated Christmas since her husband's death and it's July anyway. Luckily, Alan has an idea.

Notes: Rewatched The Lost City the other day and had this random idea. I've thought it would be a nice addition to the challenge.

December 2 - Christmas in July

“A Christmas special? Are you kidding me?”

Loretta Sage felt like this was some terrible joke, but Beth Hatten, her publisher, still wasn’t laughing.

“I’m serious,” she said. “I want you to write a Christmas special. The readers would love it!”

“I’d love it, too,” Alan Caprison, Loretta’s now boyfriend and the cover model for her novels joined in. The two women had no idea why he was present in this meeting, and honestly, neither did he. “It would be something new and exciting!”

“You’d still be shirtless,” Beth told him. “Or at least would wear a Santa costume open.”

That toned down his enthusiasm a little bit and freak Loretta out even more.

“An open Santa costume? Why?” she burst out as she already imagined Alan with his wig, posing as Dash McMahon on the cover wearing Santa’s red coat, but still showing his bare chest and six-pack. “Not that you wouldn’t look good in it, but a Christmas special, really?”

“What? A little festive adventure: chunky sweaters, hot cocoa, mistletoes, a love scene by the fireplace…” Beth said.

“Beth, it’s July!” Loretta cut in, right on time before she could have visualized Dr Lovemore and Dash having sex on the floor, right in front of the fireplace, their moans and sighs mixing with the popping of the fire. “And I haven’t celebrated Christmas since John’s death!”

“Then this is the perfect moment to start doing it again!” the publisher told her.

“But how will I write a Christmas story in the middle of summer?” Loretta wondered.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” the other woman assured her. “I want to see a story proposal in four days.”

Loretta shook her head. Ever since she had been a widow, she didn’t see the point to celebrate Christmas; it didn’t make sense, and now Beth wanted to force her into a festive mood in the middle of the summer. How the hell was she supposed to get into Christmas mood in July?

“I’m sorry, I can’t do this,” she said then she left the office, leaving an already exhausted publisher and a pensive model who had just realized he didn’t need much to get into the festive mood. Thinking about his favourite parts from the movie Home Alone was enough to do the trick. Now he had an idea.

No, he didn’t set up booby traps in Loretta’s house, it was something completely different. Making sure she was asleep, Alan sneaked out of bed, closed the door, and began to work. Humming on some Christmas songs, he started putting up tinsel garlands in the kitchen and the living room, then hung some stockings to the fireplace, placed some ornaments here and there: reindeer, Santa, angels, and snowmen, then she added some fairy lights. He found it funny that it was still the middle of July, yet he was humming Santa Claus Is Coming to Town while turning Loretta’s house into Winter Wonderland to get her into the Christmas mood.

Once he was done, he called Beth, and in less than an hour both she and Allison, Loretta’s social media assistant were in the living room, decorating a six feet tall artificial pine tree in the middle of the night. It wasn’t easy as they had to do it in almost complete silence, not wanting to wake Loretta up, otherwise the surprise was gone. Now Alan knew what it was like to be one those parents who decorated their Christmas tree at night, while their kids were still sleeping.

Loretta woke up to the smell of coffee next morning and had absolutely no idea what was going on in her house during the night. Entering the living room, she thought she might still be dreaming as the place was heavily decorated with tinsel garland, ornaments, and candles. Moreover, a huge (artificial) Christmas tree was standing in the corner, with colorful baubles and fairy lights. It looked like a commercial. On the coffee table she spotted some DVDs of Christmas movies: from While You Were Sleeping and Love Actually to Around the World in 80 Days.

“Since when is this a Christmas movie?” She mumbled, picking up the DVD.

“Good morning, honey,” she heard Alan’s voice as he walked in from the kitchen, holding two mugs of cocoa, wearing a navy-blue T-shirt with a gingerbread man on it and a pair of festive boxers.

“What the hell is going on?” she wondered.

“It’s Christmas in the summer!” he announced, offering her one of the mugs.

“Did you do all of this?” she asked, looking around the heavily decorated room. Honestly, if her brain hadn’t known that it was July, she could have been tricked that it was actually Christmas.

“Not alone, I had my elves to help with the tree,” he admitted. “I just wanted you to have a merry little Christmas, that’s all.”

A smile touched Loretta’s lips. Even though she didn’t like the holidays that much, the effort certainly warmed her heart. She finally took the mug from Alan, wrapping her fingers around the cold ceramics. It was still July, after all.

“And I guess Beth won’t leave me alone until I write that stupid special,” she mused.

“No, she won’t,” he shook his head. “So I’ve thought it might be easier figuring it out if you are in the festive mood.”

“Thank you for this, Alan,” she said, sliding an arm around his waist, while still holding the mug with her other hand. “I really appreciate it.”

Hearing her words, the model was beaming. He gently wrapped his arms around her (trying not to spill out the cocoa) and pressed a kiss on the top of her head.

“Merry Christmas, Loretta,” he said.

The writer looked up at him and smiled.

“Merry Christmas.”

(Read it on AO3)

#the lost city #loretta sage #alan caprison #beth hatten #loretta x alan #ficlet advent calendar 2022 #my fics #christmas

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