CHRISTMAS 1977

 

 

"What about you, Murdock?" 

 

Hearing Hannibal’s voice call his name, Murdock looked up from the box of chocolates he was raiding and blushed slightly at the thought of being caught yet again. Life would have been fine, had he not known there were such mouth-wateringly delicious mint creams in the world.  And had he not known of their existence, he wouldn't be feeling the need to hunt through the box of candies looking for another one, spilling wrappers everywhere. Sometimes life was so unfair.

 

"Hmmm, Colonel?" 

 

But Hannibal just smirked, holding out his hand to reveal two more mint creams. Grinning, Murdock pounced on them and had one in his mouth almost before he could get the wrapper off. 

 

"I was asking about your favourite Christmas," Hannibal repeated, picking up the now discarded box of chocolates to offer round to Face and BA as well. 

 

They were all sitting in the small living room of a house Face had managed to scam for them. Away from California, although the weather wasn’t cool enough for snow, it was enough to justify a roaring fire, which BA was carefully feeding with some small logs. 

 

"My favourite Christmas?" Murdock repeated, his mouth still full of mint cream. 

 

"Yeah," Hannibal elaborated. "You know, as a child." 

 

Swallowing, Murdock hesitated for a moment, looking thoughtful as he slowly unwrapped the other mint cream. 

 

"Well," he said, leaning back from where he sat on the floor to rub behind his ear. "I had some good Christmases. My grandparents always did what they could to make sure it was magical, but, I guess the one I remember the best was when I was four."  

 

Pausing for a moment, he gazed at the fire and smiled as he slipped the second mint cream into his mouth. "We were all at my grandparents' place; me, my ma, Nana and Grandpa, and I was so excited. I guess it was the first Christmas I really knew what was going on, and I spent the entire Christmas Eve running round the house pretending to be an airplane. You know…" Jumping to his feet, he promptly showed them, arms outstretched, making the sound as he buzzed past a growling BA before dropping back down in front of the fire. "Must have annoyed the heck out of them, especially when I charged around the kitchen, but Ma just smiled and told me that if I calmed down, Santa might bring me something really special. So I did." 

 

BA grunted. 

 

Murdock did his best to put on his wounded expression. "I did!" he repeated, before breaking out into a big smile. "Okay, maybe just a little, but I made sure to keep out the kitchen. 

 

"So, that night, Ma told me to go to sleep and I tried to. I really did." 

 

This time he didn’t even try to convince then, just matched Hannibal’s jazzed grin with one of his own. 

 

"I know, I know," he continued, "but I was excited, really excited. I kept wondering what the surprise would be. Would it be that bike I wanted? Or a model airplane? Or a new super yoyo? I had visions of it all dancing around my head, but some how I drifting off to sleep. Then the next thing I remember was voices outside my room. A male voice talking to my ma. And then the door was opening, and a shadow started to cross the room."

 

"Let me guess," Face interrupted. "Santa?" 

 

Murdock just grinned. "Nope, better.  But since I wasn't sure, I kept my eyes closed and pretended I was asleep."

 

"Because Santa only leaves presents for good, sleeping children?" Hannibal said.

 

"Exactly," Murdock nodded quickly.

 

"Santa ain’t that easily fooled," BA grunted, with a smile.

 

"Yeah, I found that out," Murdock laughed.  "Especially when he kissed me on my forehead and told me that he knew I was awake."  He paused, lost for a moment in the memory.  "He called me Junior.  Only one person ever called me that.  My pa didn’t come home often, but he came home that Christmas and that was all that mattered. It was the best Christmas I had." 

 

Silence touched the room, before Hannibal nodded thoughtfully. "Nice, Murdock," he said. "Another mint cream?" 

 

The pilot's head shot up at that, a grin covering his face as he raised his hands to catch the chocolate and popped it in his mouth. "You know what, guys," he said as the chocolate finally melted in his mouth.  

 

"What, Murdock?" 

 

He paused as a big smile slowly spread across his face. "Merry Christmas."

 

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