I got the lovely @drinkupthesunrise for the @zackaddie Secret Santa exchange! Here is some cover art for her lovely story It’s a Long Way to Freedom. Happy Christmas!
This year I participated in the secret santa exchange organised by @zackaddie and this is a gift for @howtoruinyourlife101 . I hope that you and everyone else has a wonderful festive season, and like this little fic about Zack and Christmas!
Zack likes Christmas.
It's a surprise to anyone who knows him. The rational, socially-awkward scientist and the warmth and festivities of Christmas don't seem an intuitive match. But Christmas means one thing to Zack; and that's family.
Some of his earliest memories are waking up on Christmas Morning. There were only six Addy children then. Four older siblings, and a newborn baby Alicia. All the presents under the tree. Breakfast and warm cocoa before being bundled up in jumpers and coats and scarfs. Being hoisted onto his oldest brother's shoulders to walk to Church. Zack knows that there is no truth to the words the Pastor says, that there was no baby born on the twenty-fifth of December who was the saviour of all mankind, but that isn't what church on Christmas Morning is about.
His mother's lilting alto lifts up in the carols sang, while his father's off-key bass line booms though the church. Zack didn't know the words when he was little, but he could feel the joy spread in every line. That was enough.
When he was older, Christmas meant wandering out in the woods to find the Christmas Tree. They always left it til late, waited until everyone was safely back home. All eight Addy children were there now, but the oldest two were off at college. Matthew comes back and the first thing he does is round everyone up – including Zack, who can't lift the axe and is therefore useless. Alicia pleads to come too. Matthew gives in. Their mother promises to have a fire going and drinks made when they come back.
It takes them an hour and a half to find a tree that everyone is happy with. There was one early on that fitted everyone's specifications, and Matthew had been about to chop it down before Zack had noticed the signs of rot and disease. A clasped hand on his shoulder and "I knew we brought you for a reason," is his reward. Zack is filled with a warmth that does nothing to combat the cold air outside.
Decorating has always been a big thing. Everyone in the Addy family has a handcarved ornament, an initial, that they have to hang on the tree. Then there are the glitter monstrosities from Kindergarten, of which they have far too many. The tree sags under the weight of the decorations, but is kept upright from the spirit of love. And Zack adjusting the tree's centre of gravity so it doesn't actually collapse.
Gifts have never been the biggest deal in the Addy household. Being together at Christmas has always been worth more than any gift, and between the ten of them gift exchanging can be a complicated affair. Handmade gifts are routine. The thought is what counts. Zack struggles with this, most of the time. He tries to listen to everyone throughout the year to spot things that they want. He does a lot of repairs, and a lot of scrounging old mechanical parts to piece together intriguing objects. An alarm clock that doubles as a remote control car is a present for Julian one year. He fixes the microwave, and then the oven when they go bust on Christmas Eve one time. For the rest of the time, he is reliant on Alicia to help him with the rest.
There is no place where Zack feels more in receipt of his family's unconditional love than at Christmas. His quirks do not matter. He is just another human being in the midst of this great celebration, and it feels amazing.
When he goes away to university, and studies hard for his undergraduates, he misses the build up to Christmas. He always goes back though, as early as he can get away. Everyone goes home for Christmas. That's the rule in the Addy household. No one will spend Christmas alone. When he starts working in DC, for Dr. Brennan who doesn't celebrate Christmas – it's based on a Christian myth that co-opted a Pagan Holiday and she isn't impressed – and with Hodgins, who doesn't have any family to celebrate Christmas with, the time he goes back slips later and later and later. But still they wait. There are a few of them that live further afield now, though Zack undoubtedly lives the furthest away.
When Hodgins breathes in the fungus, placing them all in Quarantine, Zack's first thought is that this will be the first time any Addy child has ever missed Christmas. A part of him always suspected that he'd be the one to break the change; that eventually he'd just fall out of his responsibilities, and not turn up. But he'd expected it to be years later. And when the idea of family visits is floated, Zack thinks that he'll just see if Alicia will come down. Everyone else is back in Michigan, and there's no sense in moving them.
Seeing them all, standing the other side of the glass doors – his mom, dad, every single one of his siblings – is breathtaking. His entire family, come to visit him on Christmas Eve, because the thought of being apart for Christmas is unbearable. That is love. Which, in the end, is what Christmas is about. Love.
