Well look at this. I actually wrote a Christmas One Shot when I'm normally bah-humbug. :) This is just a super piece of fluff just for some Christmas fun. Enjoy.
"I don't think it's gonna fit," Ally warned as Juice adjusted his position.
"It'll fit," he grunted, his face screwed with concentration. "Just help me out."
Ally sighed and grabbed the base to pull. "Juice," she warned.
"It'll fucking fit, Al. You're the one that likes 'em big." With a grunt, their work was complete. He stepped back and inspected the Christmas tree that had just bought for Ally and Tig's house. The top of the tree was only an inch or two away from the ceiling. "Big enough for you?"
"I love it," Ally replied around a grin. "I think all the lights and stuff are in the garage. Will you help me get them out?"
Juice followed Ally into the garage and hauled three large Tupperware containers into the living room. "Didn't realize you were so into Christmas," he commented as Ally opened one and pulled out tightly wound balls of lights.
Ally shrugged and started plugging the strands in one by one to make sure they still lit properly. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, it's basically the only time of year that things always get a little more quiet. Everyone's a little more relaxed. I guess, when I was little, I knew Christmas was the time that I would have more one on one time with Dad. Just me and him. I think everyone in this life gets a little more nostalgic and family oriented around Christmas. Nobody's down for violence this time of year. It's a good time. I like it. Why? Do you not like Christmas?"
"Eh," Juice grunted, untangling some lights. "It's another day, to be real with you."
"Come on, babe. Don't be like that. Everybody loves Christmas." Ally took some lights and started stringing them on the tree. "Didn't you love it when you were a kid?"
He shrugged and helped her wind multicolored lights around the slightly sappy tree. "I guess. My mom usually worked on Christmas at the diner. We'd have some presents at the end of our beds when we woke up, but the older we got, the less special it became, you know. Then it was just another day with the only difference being we didn't have to go to school."
"That's so sad," Ally commented, pulling out a step stool so she could reach the top of the tree. "Did you not do a tree or stockings or Santa?"
Juice shook his head. "Nope. We lived on the ninth floor without an elevator. Be my guest if you want to drag a damn tree up that. Puerto Ricans don't really do stockings. I think that's a white people thing. And we didn't do Santa. We knew Ma put those gifts out." He noticed Ally had fallen quiet. "What, uh, what did you do for Christmas as a kid?"
"Well," Ally started off slowly, "pretty much the same as I do now. I'll make cookies and stuff with Gemma and then we have the party on Christmas Eve. You were there last year so you know it's just Club and family. Then, on Christmas, me and Dad get up and we do presents and then stockings. Then we make breakfast together and just kind of hang out and watch movies or play games until it's time to go to Gemma's for lunch with everybody. When we get home, we basically do the same thing. We eat, we play, we hang out. I will say, though, that Christmas Eve and Day are the two days of the year that Tig will not stick his dick in anything and focus his attention on me.
"One year, I think I was, like, four or so. I wasn't in school yet. Anyways, Dad hooked up with some sweetbutt on Christmas Eve and when Christmas Day rolled around I woke all excited and I go in there to wake Dad up and there's this naked woman in his bed. She decided she was a member of the family and didn't want to leave. Dad was pissed. I remember him physically hauling her ass out."
Ally had sat on the couch and was starting to pull out ornaments one by one. All were mismatched but had been packed into their box with care. She held up a lopsided gingerbread man.
"I made this ornament in kindergarten. Even wrote my name on it. See?" She showed him the lopsided 'Allison' written in unsteady childish script. "Dad may not look like it, but he never threw any of my stuff like this away. Did your mom ever keep little school stuff like this?"
Juice shook his head. "Nah. Public schools in Queens don't exactly have the funds for things like that. At least, not the one I went to." He caught a fleeting look pass over Ally's face. It was one of pity and sadness before she smiled brightly and pulled out more mismatched ornaments.
"So, uh," he started, trying to break the awkwardness in the air as Ally started to strategically place the ornaments on the tree. "I take it you did the Santa thing?"
Ally nodded, a small smile on her lips. "Yeah. Dad would always use it as a way to make me behave around this time of year. Then, when I was five, Jax told me Santa wasn't real and I thought Dad was gonna kill him. I think that was when my classmates started hating me because I, naturally, told everyone at school that Santa wasn't real."
"Holy shit," Juice laughed, picturing a pigtailed Ally proclaiming to all her schoolmates the truth about their beloved Santa Claus.
"Yeah," Ally drawled, placing a motorcycle ornament near the top of the tree. "Bobby used to dress up as Santa during the Christmas party, but after I called him out on it he stopped doing it. Course, it should have been obvious there wasn't a Santa. We never left milk and cookies out. It was always beer and bacon. That should have been a hint, looking back on it."
Juice snorted back a laugh and handed her the next ornament and watched as she carefully placed each one on the branches in a particular order. Older, more obviously special, ornaments had reserved places near the top. Juice spied a 'Baby's First Christmas' ornament glistening in the multicolored lights.
Ally never asked him for his help as she placed the ornaments and wrapped a silver ribbon around the tree. She did each motion with a care that was alien to Juice. He had never truly sat and watched someone decorate a Christmas tree.
While he had seen plenty of Christmas trees in his life; none, not even his childhood memories of the grand tree at Rockefeller back in New York, compared to the sight of the Trager family tree when Ally stepped back to inspect her work.
He grabbed the star from it's resting spot on the couch and went to help her put it on the top of the tree when Ally grabbed his arm.
"Uh, uh," she said, taking the star back. "This is Dad's thing. He always puts the star up. It's his thing." She put it in its box and set that on the coffee table. "Do you need to do Club stuff today?"
Juice shook his head and followed Ally into the kitchen. She was pulling out ingredients to bake cookies. "Nah, it's quiet today. Dunno what Clay and Tig were doing, but everyone else is kinda laying low today, you know. Whatcha doing?"
"Making cookies," she replied, scooping out flour into a bowl. "We take a bunch to the children's hospital and then to the Veteran's home every year. Want to help?"
"Sure," he said with a shrug, sitting at the table with her.
"Tell me about a good Christmas," Ally pressed as she handed a hunk of freshly mixed dough for Juice to kneed while she took another. "Like, what was your favorite part?"
Juice gnawed on his bottom lip as he worked on the dough. "I dunno," he mumbled.
Ally pursed her lips. "Seriously, Juan Carlos? There wasn't a tradition or a favorite food or anything that was your favorite part of the day on Christmas?" She waited as she rolled out a section of the dough. Juice had propped his chin on his fist as he thought. She had cut out several trees in the dough before he answered.
"One thing," he started quietly, "that we always did was that night on Christmas Eve, when Ma got home . . . she always brought pie home from the diner. An old Italian lady made it from scratch every morning and she would make extra ones for the waitresses and cooks and stuff to take home to their families on Christmas. Cherry pie. When Ma got home, we'd always get a piece and sit on the couch and watch TV. It wasn't anything much, but it was what we did."
Ally smiled softly as she transferred some cookies onto a pan. "That's sweet," she replied.
Juice nodded. "I even went and got a piece of pie last year. I do it every year, really."
"I think that's a great tradition," Ally murmured, putting a sheet into the oven. She kissed the top of his head as she passed.
Ally curled into Juice's lap as the annual Sons of Anarchy Christmas party raged around them. She nuzzled her nose into his neck, loving his own personal scent. "Having fun?"
Juice chuckled and caught her mouth with his. "Best Christmas ever," he murmured, tasting the bourbon on her lips.
"Well," Ally drawled, her eyes twinkling, "it's not over yet. It's only Christmas Eve, baby. There's still a whole 'nother day to go."
"Yeah, but I won't get to see you," he reminded her as she took a sip of her drink. Her eyebrows furrowed at his remark.
"Why wouldn't you? It's Christmas."
"Right," Juice replied slowly. "You'll be with Tig tomorrow."
"And you," she answered simply.
"How me?"
Confusion was evident on her face as she shook her head. "B . . . because you'll be at the house. You're gonna spend Christmas with us, dumbass. Christmas is about family and you're not gonna spend it alone at your apartment. You'll spend it with us. From the crack of dawn till we eat so much we pass out."
Juice blinked as a croweater placed fresh drinks on the table next to them. "What?"
Ally groaned. "You are gonna stay the night with me and spend Christmas with the Tragers tomorrow. I don' know what's so hard about that . . . unless you don't want to?"
"No, no," he answered quickly. "Course I do. I mean, I just . . . kinda figured with the way you talk about it, you know, that that's you and Tig's day. Something you two spend together."
"And now you," she quipped as her fingers traced the line of his mohawk. "I packed a bag the other day when I was over so you have your stuff there and you'll get to experience our Christmas."
She saw a distinct sparkle in Juice's eye when she spoke. She grinned and stood. "Come on. I'm tired, but there's one present you'll get to open early."
Juice arched and eyebrow and smirked as he let her follow her out of the house and towards his bike. The closer they got to the house, the more Ally's stomach became knotted with nerves. She tried to concentrate on the lighted houses as they passed, but feeling the warmth of Juice under her arms and hearing his heartbeat when her ear was pressed to his back made her excited for what was to come.
Juice helped her off the bike and held her hand as they walked up the path to the house. Ally stopped him before he opened the door.
"What?"
She shook her head as her eyes shyly looked down. "Nothing," she murmured. "Merry Christmas Juan Carlos." She cupped his face and pulled him down for a kiss as they stood in front of the door.
"Merry Christmas," he murmured when they pulled apart. Confusion was evident on his face. "Al, what's going on? You're acting weird."
Ally bit her bottom lip and led him inside.
Inside the tree was glowing in the dim light. She pulled him into the living room before letting go of his hand. "I'll be right back. Stay here." She scampered away and left Juice alone in the living room. As he looked around while he waited for her to return, her noticed a red with white fur stocking with his name stitched on top perched next to Ally and Tig's on the mantle.
He had never had a stocking before. Especially not one with his name on it. He stepped over to the tree and saw an ornament personalized with his name. He was sure if he bent down to look, he would find brightly wrapped presents with his name as well.
"Merry Christmas Juan Carlos."
He turned to see Ally watching him with a perfectly golden topped pie in her hands. "What is,"
"I wanted you to have a really good Christmas," she said quietly, placing the pie on the coffee table. He then noticed there were two small plates and forks all ready there waiting. "I mean, I wanted you to know it's more than just the stuff like the stocking and presents and all. I wanted you to have a family Christmas with us. And I wanted you to have homemade pie. This one's my third attempt," she admitted sheepishly. "Hopefully it's edible."
Juice blinked and shook his head as a smile spread over his face. "You did this for me?"
Ally nodded and smiled softly. "I wanted to. I mean, hopefully, this is the start of many Christmases for us. I figured we could start our own little traditions."
"I love you."
Ally grinned and cut into the pie. Juice could tell by the red on the knife it was cherry. His favorite. "I love you too, Juan Carlos. Merry Christmas."