~Dec. 29~

It was only a few days after Christmas, but rather than feeling disappointed that the merriment was over like most children, young Cindy Lou could not have been more pleased.

True, her mother was returning to work after taking the holiday off, and the three days in between would normally have been spent tidying up the house, taking down the decorations, and caring for Cindy Lou and her two brothers. But not this year.

This year, her mother Donna Lou Who was able to play in the snow with her, catch up on some reading while sitting before a warm fire sipping hot cider, and mostly just relaxing and unwinding from all the Christmas rushing about. It was all Cindy Lou could have ever dreamt of. She had made a special Christmas wish that her mother would get a break from all she did for them, that she might have some help with the load.

Now instead of stressing about work and money and children and her other adult problems, Cindy Lou had seen her take a nap. A NAP. In the middle of the day.

Cindy Lou was happy to help out where she could, but being still young herself, she knew she couldn't manage it all on her own. No, the real saving grace - the embodiment of her Christmas wish - had come in a much greener package.

After being invited to dinner at their house, the Grinch had sought a way of paying back the family's kind gesture. This was what he told her as he had returned the next day, and the day after that, and the following day as well. Each time taking it upon himself to take over doing whatever it was Donna Lou had to do that day.

On the twenty-sixth, he took down all the decorations and did all of the dishes from the night before. On the twenty-seventh, he took the tree and all the extra Christmas trash to the dump and shoveled the walkway outside. Then on the twenty-eighth, he watched the twins so that Cindy Lou and Donna Lou could go have a girls' day. Each time coming all the way down from Mt. Crumpit and staying nearly all day before making the journey back up again.

Today he was watching the three of them as their mother returned to the world from their happy holiday bubble. Leaving Cindy Lou and the Grinch, plus two.

There wasn't much to do while the twins were napping, so the two of them spent the day playing Whoopoly, fixing the broken washing machine, and tinkering with a new surprise for her mom to be unveiled that night.

It wasn't as easy when the boys were awake, though. The Grinch not having had much experience with infants was sufficiently awkward at changing and feeding them. He got the hang of it slowly, as Cindy Lou walked him through it. Finally, they were able to get Buster and Bean fed, bathed, and changed before tucking them in for the night.

Right around nine forty-five, the two could hear the jingling of keys that was the tell-tale sign of her mother's return. It woke Max from his comfy spot before the fire and he rushed to greet her as Donna Lou came in the door.

Cindy Lou had been curled up next to the Grinch on the couch pretending to be asleep, but she shot straight up as swiftly as Max had when she heard Donna Lou enter and clamored down to greet her mother as well.

"Mommy!" Cindy Lou started to shout, her volume lowering several notches as she remembered her sleeping brothers upstairs.

"Well, this certainly is a greeting," her mother said as she returned the hug from her daughter and gently fended off Max's affections.

"Max, no. Stop that," the Grinch tried to reprimand the dog as Max was leaping as high as Donna Lou's waist and trying to lick every inch of her he could reach.

Donna Lou only giggled, "It's fine, really. I'm just not used to such a warm homecoming." Her eyes strayed from her daughter to the clock above them. "Especially this late, you should already be in bed young lady."

Cindy Lou tilted her gaze to the floor, only feeling slightly guilty that she'd been allowed to stay up past her bedtime.

Grinch - who had finally grabbed Max's collar and was attempting to get the pooch to calm down - spoke up at this.

"Uh, you see, that was my fault. She begged me to let her stay up to wait for you."

Donna Lou crossed her arms and 'hmmed', but with no real agitation present.

"I guess if he's going to be such a pushover, we may have to stop asking Mr. Grinch to sit for us."

Cindy Lou moaned a "No" as loudly as she dared, and she grabbed hold of her mother's legs, puppy face at the ready.

"You can't, Mom! He's so much fun."

Donna Lou chuckled again and stroked Cindy Lou's head.

"More fun than Mrs. Wilbur?"

Cindy Lou nodded emphatically. "Yeah, and he never leaves a mess or a clogged up sink, either."

Donna Lou smiled down at her, then gave her a kiss on top of her head. "I agree, that is a plus. Now why don't you go on up to bed? I'll be up to check on you in a bit."

"But what about the surprise?" she asked, pigtails whipping as she turned to the Grinch.

"Oh, there's a surprise?" asked her mother.

"Yeah, it's out back, and we were supposed to show you together," Cindy Lou chirped.

"Well, if it's alright with you, I think Mr. Grinch is capable of showing me by himself," Donna answered,in a pointed though not forceful manner.

Cindy Lou scrunched up her face, debating, then she relented with a sigh.

"Oookay, but just remember that I helped with it too."

"I will definitely keep that in mind."

Cindy Lou made no more fuss about heading up to bed, mostly because she had no intention of actually going up to her room yet. There was no way she was missing her mom's reaction when she saw what they'd built. She gave her mom one last hug, and then one to a surprised looking Grinch. Then Cindy Lou disappeared from her mother's sight, although she stayed at the top of the landing to hear the adults talk.

"That is one good kid you have there," she heard Him say as Cindy Lou disappeared around the corner of the hallway.

"Don't I know it," her mother agreed with a soft laugh.

"-Not that your sons aren't great as well. I don't want to imply that she's better or that-"

"It's okay," Donna Lou said. "I get what you mean. And the boys can be a handful. Or two, rather."

There was silence between them as Cindy Lou heard keys and purse being placed on the kitchen table.

"Thanks so much again, Mr. Grinch," her mother said as she scooted a chair closer to the table. "I've gotten lucky my next few shifts are within reasonable hours. But who's to say they won't put me right back on night shift whenever they get the chance?"

Cindy Lou could hear the weariness in her mother's voice, and she crept carefully around the corner to get a better view.

Her mother swept some stray hair out of her face as Cindy Lou watched her approach the Grinch.

"You've done so much for us these past few days – and I am so very grateful - but I can't expect you to keep it up forever. I don't want our troubles to interfere with your life. "

It was hard at this angle to see the Grinch's expression, but Cindy Lou could see the soft smile on her mother's face.

The Grinch seemed to have an itch on the back of his head. "That's assuming I've had much of a life to interfere with." He chuckled, somewhat awkwardly.

"But really, none of this is any trouble, Ms. Who. It's the least I can do for your family since your daughter helped me so. And - in any case - if I'm going to be dipping my toe back into Who society, I'd be more comfortable starting with you."

There was a pause, and Cindy Lou could feel the air growing even more awkward, if that was possible.

"'You' meaning your family, that is. Not just you, yourself."

She could see her mother nod. "I- got that. And you know you don't have to call me 'Ms. Who'. It's Donna Lou, or- just Donna."

"Right, Donna." He seemed to test out the sound of the name. It sounded odd to Cindy Lou's ears coming from his lips, but it did cause her mother's smile to widen.

He took a bit too long to come back with, "And of course, you can just call me 'Grinch'." More silence. There sure was a lot of awkwardness emanating from that kitchen. She didn't think this was a typical level either. It was interesting, but Cindy Lou thought after a while that maybe they really had finished talking and was contemplating going to bed when she heard her mother speak up.

"So, there was a surprise?" Donna brought up with an air of hesitation.

"Yes, but it's- not that important. It can wait until morning if you're tired."

"Are you kidding?" she said playfully, but then corrected. "I mean, I don't want to sound greedy, but knowing that whatever it is needs to be outside has me curious."

They headed out the back door and Cindy Lou followed, taking great care to stay in the shadows and out of sight.
She watched them crunch through the snow as she tried not to fog up the window and leave a mark. The door was closed behind them, so Cindy Lou very carefully opened the window a crack to try and hear from the safety and warmth of the inside.

It was harder to make out what they were saying, but from her vantage point Cindy Lou could get a great view of her mother's face. She – of course – knew what the surprise was, but she didn't want to miss the big reveal.

The surprise was covered with a tarp that was now dusted with snow, and she watched as Mr. Grinch explained that they couldn't put it anywhere else since they didn't have a garage. And as he pulled the tarp away to reveal it, Cindy Lou's heart melted as she saw her mother's face light up like a Christmas tree.
It was a brand new, custom-built snowmobile built by him (and Cindy Lou) just for her.

"Since I noticed that you didn't have a car of your own, and you were having to rely on the bus schedule. This way you can save time," she heard Mr. Grinch say, but Cindy Lou wasn't sure that what he was saying was sinking in through her mother's pure, unexpected joy.
She honestly thought she might cry watching her mother's gaze switch from Mr. Grinch to the gorgeous machine. She inched her way closer to it and ran her fingers over its smooth, metallic surface.

"This is- I mean, this is too much. I just can't believe-" her half finished sentences came out as quick little gasps, puffing out with her breaths in the cold night air. "I mean, the machines for the house were one thing but, this-"

She turned back to Mr. Grinch, and before Cindy Lou knew what was happening, her mother wrapped him in a tight, sincere hug.
"Thank you," she saw Donna mouth but the words were too soft for Cindy Lou to hear.

Mr. Grinch looked taken aback by this sudden embrace, but he slowly returned it with a very strange smile on his face.

Her own smile spread across Cindy Lou's face as she watched the two of them embracing, the snow softly falling on them as it took a little longer than was necessary to part.

She felt like she might let out a squeal at the sight of them, for there was definitely something out there more exciting in her eyes than the snowmobile. Something she wholeheartedly approved of. She simply had to hear more and could not go to bed until she did.

When the hug finally ended she saw Donna give a shiver and quickly scrambled back to the stairway to keep from being spotted.

Cindy Lou heard a few more breathy words of thanks from her mother as Mr. Grinch waved them away. Once she was back on the landing they appeared in the hall, close but not quite at the door yet. It might have been her imagination, but it seemed like they were stalling.

"Well, again, I can't thank you enough. For everything. I don't want to assume, but can I expect you again tomorrow?"

"Actually, I was somehow roped into promising to take Cindy Lou and the twins sledding tomorrow. So I'll be here if you need someone to watch them again."

"Be careful, I just might end up depending on you too much," she joked, but Cindy Lou wasn't sure it had landed the right way. "If there's ever anything I can do for you, Grinch-" Then Cindy Lou saw something spark in her eyes.

"You know, why don't I help you a little with that, the integrating back into society that you mentioned? What are you doing New Year's Eve? Bricklebaum has a small get-together to count down to the new year. I've not been able to go before, but it wouldn't be much bigger than our Christmas dinner."

Cindy Lou could feel her mother's enthusiasm emanating all the way from where she still hid. Her mother was eager at this idea of hers, more eager than Cindy Lou had seen her be about much else. It put a sparkle in her eyes that Cindy Lou couldn't quite place, but she knew it must be a good thing.

She wasn't entirely sure that Mr. Grinch was catching these vibes, because all that seemed to come out of his mouth at that moment was some weird waffling accompanied by a few 'oh's and 'I don't knows'.

She watched the lights in her mother's eyes brighten as she stepped even closer to Mr. Grinch, taking his hand in hers.

"Please, let me do this for you. You'd be helping me out again too, you know. Do you know how hard it is for me to get together with other adults in a casual, non-work setting? Please come with me."

Cindy Lou was watching intently now, the air between the two of them had shifted from awkward to something else, something promising to the young Who girl's eyes.

"With you?" Mr. Grinch sputtered.

"If that's not a deal breaker," her mother replied, her smile fading slightly as the question arose.

"Oh, no no no, that's not it," he said, itching that spot on his neck again. "I think I'd enjoy that. Very much, in fact. "

"Great," she said, finally letting go of his hand. "It won't be terribly formal, but if you want to dress up you can."

Another awkward beat as they smiled at each other, and Cindy Lou waited expectantly for something else to happen. But when something finally did, she was disappointed.

She watched as her mother merely opened the door for Mr. Grinch, thanked him again, and bayed him goodnight.

She found that extremely anticlimactic as she swiftly and quietly took the stairs two at a time. But there was definitely something promising going on there between her mother and Mr. Grinch, and Cindy Lou was going to do all she could to help see whatever it was set sail.