@impossiblescissorspeachpaper my love, thank you so much for your friendship this past year.
Getting to know you has been an absolute joy. I wish you and your fam an amazing holiday season, and a happy and healthy 2023.
The following is just a little bit of silly, solsticey fluff. I couldn't remember whether you liked reading about kids or not, but this whole fic was written around Elain's last line haha.
I know, I know. Fair warning... it's terrible.
You'll see why. 🤣
Secret Santa out. ✌🏻
🎄❤️🎄❤️🎄
Read it on AO3 instead
1200 words
Modern AU
"Shadow" the cat was stolen shamelessly from @tswaney17's magnificent Across the Hallway fic. Thanks, Tay!
Rosa Archeron knew very well that she should be tucked up in bed—had, in fact, been there only five short minutes ago—but she needed to gather information for her father, to prove she could be the world's youngest spy. If she learnt the identity of Father Solstice, or at least what he looked like (something even her detective father hadn't been able to tell her), then she could brag at dinner tomorrow night and shut her cousin Nyx up for good.
Nyx was almost ten and insufferable with it. Who cared about being "big" when it meant one lost the best hiding spots? She didn't know why he was so happy about it.
Sleep could wait, some might say. Or maybe even there ain't no rest for the wicked, if she knew such a phrase at seven years old.
So Rosa had very quietly crawled out of bed, sneaked across the room she shared with her twin brother, Andy, while avoiding the squeaky floorboard that would alert her too-observant parents to her mission (because she may only be seven years old, but she wasn't born yesterday, thank you very much), and out the door onto the landing at the top of the stairs.
Phase one, complete.
Slowly crouching, before getting onto her belly, she poked her nose through the railings of the bannister and put the old spyglass she'd swiped from her ma's travel bag to her face.
Surveying the scene was very important, she knew. She couldn't just trust that her parents had gone to sleep yet. She and her brother had learnt that particular lesson when they were only five.
Phase two was going to be the hardest, because there was more than one squeaky step to this staircase at Rosehall, but if she made it all the way downstairs and into the back hallway, she could take the rear corridor to bypass her parents' bedroom door, making it to the lounge room, and getting through phase three undetected.
If all went to plan.
Her ma had better hearing than most people she knew, and her dad was just plain sneaky. Some days it seemed like he could slip into the shadows.
Taking a (quiet) deep breath, she worked up the courage to turn around and start descending the stairs backwards, on her hands and feet, avoiding steps number four and seven to perfection. Reaching the bottom without any noises she could hear, and pleased with herself, a small smile curved her mouth at one side.
Phase two was over; phase three should be much easier, especially since her eyes had, by now, adjusted to the dark.
Tip toeing across the flagstone floor to the far corner as silently as their black cat, Shadow, would have done, Rosa used the spyglass once more to check around the corner. Her ma and dad didn't sleep on this corridor, but one could really never be too careful, especially when one was up to mischief.
The coast being all clear, she kept up her tip toeing until she made it into the lounge room and, sliding behind the couch, breathed a sigh of relief.
Phase three? Tick. Now for phase four (hide) and phase five (stay awake until Father Solstice visited to deliver presents, making sure to get a good look at his face). She even had made sure not to drink much this evening, so she wouldn't have to run to the toilet and miss him. That would be awful.
Sitting for a minute, collecting her thoughts, Rosa decided that her best bet was still to hide under the sideboard along the west wall. Ideally she'd have got into her ma's camphorwood chest and ever-so-slightly propped the lid open with a folded bit of linen from inside, but it was too heavy to open by herself, and anyway, the hinges were too noisy.
The sideboard was still a good option; low enough that most people would miss her, especially in the dark, but she'd still have a clear view of anyone who came down the chimney, which was really the whole point of her mission.
Stifling a yawn, she crept out from behind the couch, grabbing her favourite solstice blanket as she went by, and crawled under the wooden cabinet in which her parents kept their good china. She loved watching as they got everything out for dinner parties, but she was still too young to be allowed the key herself.
Maybe Nyx was right; there would be at least some good from growing up.
After a little while, Rosa started to fiddle. Waiting was boring, after all, and she wished she was brave enough to get back out and swipe one of the gingerbread cookies that she and Andy had helped their ma make that morning, but the plate was for Father Solstice, and she didn't want to end up on the naughty list.
A few times she thought she saw some movement by the doorway, but maybe that was just her tired eyes playing tricks on her. Or the cat.
As the clock struck midnight she could have sworn she heard bells and footsteps, but nothing came of it.
Shadow found her in her hiding spot just before one o'clock, and promptly curled up beside her, purring happily.
Yawning some more, Rosa stretched her legs, careful to avoid knocking Shadow, and then brought them back under cover of the sideboard. Maybe she should have woken Andy up to help her out. She'd wanted to do this by herself, but it would be much easier to stay awake with her brother by her side. Louder, too, she supposed.
No, she decided as her eyes blinked closed for a little rest—just a quick one. She'd made the right choice in working alone tonight.
Thinking of the food that awaited her the next day kept her occupied for a little while, and then presents after that, but as it neared two o'clock she was needing to rest her eyes for longer and longer.
Just one more rest, then he'll come, Rosa thought. Just one—
***
At three o'clock on Solstice morning, Elain woke up to Azriel's gentle stroke of her hair and grinned.
"Has she fallen asleep yet?" She whispered.
"Finally," was his answer. "I just got her back to bed, she didn't even stir."
"It was a good effort on her behalf," Elain admitted. "She stayed awake far longer than I gave her credit for."
Azriel chuckled softly. "True, I'll give her that. The camera behind the elf on the shelf was a stroke of genius, though. And it helped that the cat was sticking out from under the sideboard, belly up and snoring."
Elain relaxed back into the pillows, content. "So, did Father Solstice get the extra presents out, and eat a cookie or two?"
"Three, in fact. Maybe next year we go with chocolate fudge or shortbread instead of ginger, though?" He murmured as he got back into bed.
Elain grimaced. "I'm sorry, the kids were insisting on gingerbread."
"That's alright." Az rolled over and looked at her, suddenly wicked. "You can make it up to me any time, you know."
"Come here then, Daddy Solstice."
Azriel only snorted as he pulled her to his chest.
