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“Just hear those sleigh bells jinglin', ring ting tinglin' to. Come on it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you…”
Maggie felt more festive this year than in year’s past. Maybe it was the merry tunes of holiday carols bumping out of the bass-enhanced Bluetooth speakers in Kara’s apartment, or maybe it was the rich, aromatic blend of cinnamon and gingerbread that pervaded the space. Mostly though, she was pretty sure it had something to do with her taller, incredibly dorky and incredibly beautiful girlfriend standing beside her.
Alex had convinced her to spend Christmas with the Danvers family and as much as Maggie missed her family in Nebraska, she just couldn’t pass up a chance to spend more time with her. Alex pleaded with her puppy dog eyes and made the promise that they could spend the following year with Maggie’s family and the prospect of a next year made Maggie’s stomach do flips and somersaults, so how could she possibly turn her down?
They loaded up their gifts into the car – one that Alex borrowed from the DEO much to J’onn’s disapproval as those cars were for ‘emergencies only!’ – and headed to Kara’s apartment together early in the afternoon.
She assured that the night would be chalked full of holiday shenanigans, a delicious home cooked meal, and the jolly event of unwrapping presents, but all Maggie could focus on was that she’d be spending the day with someone who really cared for her. Not to say that her exes never cared for her, because they did to a certain extent, but Alex seemed different so far.
Though Maggie still harbored some cautious reservations, Alex was off to a great start - she knew what Maggie’s job entailed and her unwavering dedication to it, yet instead of running and shying away from it like all the others, she encouraged and respected her for it. She challenged her emotionally and never agreed to everything outright, but instead offered a good counterbalance and perspective. It was an entirely new feeling to have someone be so supportive in so many ways and it would take some getting used to, but Maggie was certainly warming up to it.
“Is that the last of the presents?” Alex asked, her hands resting on her hips as she studied the mound of presents beneath the moderately sized flocked Christmas tree resting in the corner near the window.
“Yeah, seems like it,” replied Maggie in a breathy manner. She was surprisingly winded from taking multiple trips to and from the car with the god-awful amount of gifts that they brought (why this many things for so few people?).
Standing at the counter, Maggie debated whether to open a beer or not, but it felt too early to do so - day drinking around three just didn’t appeal to her. She studied the presents beneath the tree and marveled at how many gifts they brought between the two of them. Presents for Alex, presents for Eliza, presents for Kara, presents for –
Oh no.
Maggie squinted.
Oh hell no.
Oh fuckity fuck fucking shit in hell no.
She spotted a familiar rectangular box wrapped neatly in red and silver foil with little reindeer flying through the air. It was by all means an unassuming gift, however its presence beneath the tree spelled absolute terror for Maggie.
Its contents were meant for only Alex’s eyes, as it was partly a joke, but partly a surprise of the romantic variety.
In other words, it was a strap-on.
Okay yes, it was very brazen of her given how early on it was in their relationship, but she intended for it to be opened when they were alone. Alex must have grabbed it along with the other presents beneath her tree back at home during their hurry to rush over, and now it rested beneath Kara’s tree like a ticking time bomb ready to explode.
She had to grab it.
She needed to stow it away somewhere safe.
Tip-toeing over in the most discreet manner possible, Maggie nonchalantly slid on over to the presents, her eyes darting left and right on the lookout lest someone witness her in the act. She kneeled down and snatched up the present, seemingly in the clear and then –
“Maggie Sawyer, you put that down right this instant!”
Maggie winced as Kara’s voice rang through the apartment and she dropped the present post-haste.
“I know you’re new to our holiday traditions, but gifts aren’t until the very end. First, we have tons of games and activities!”
“Ah yes, silly me,” Maggie smiled superficially before standing up and heading back over to Alex.
She slinked up beside her, voice low and out of earshot from the others, “Hey, so… you need to help me grab that box.” Nodding her head in the direction of the gifts, Maggie’s eyes widened with urgency.
“Which one? There’s tons over there and nodding your head is doing absolutely nothing for me,” Alex responded lightheartedly as she enjoyed her cup of eggnog.
“The one with the silver and red reindeer print.”
“Why do you need it? We’re going to open gifts eventually.”
“No, I need it.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, her brow furrowing in the process, “Why? What’s in it?”
Maggie coughed awkwardly, “It’s a um… let’s just say it was my personal gift to you and only you.”
“I’m… not really understanding what-“
“It’s a sex toy.”
Maggie’s deadpan delivery contrary to the content of her words caused Alex to choke on her drink, very nearly spitting it out in her girlfriend’s face.
“YOU GAVE ME WHAT?!”
“Shh! Shh!”
Eliza and Kara busied themselves at the dinner table setting up for their first activity and stopped briefly to eye the two skeptically from the loud outburst.
Waving her arms frantically and shrugging her shoulders in massive disbelief, Alex started to panic, “Wh-why would you even bring that with us? My family is all here! What were you thinking?!”
“Jeez, keep it down!” Maggie kept shushing her ineffectively, “It was an accident, okay? We probably swept it up with the other gifts, but that’s beside the point since it’s here now and we have to deal with getting it back into the car.”
Alex pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed with exasperation, “Okay, okay you grab the present and I’ll distract my mom and Kara. Hopefully we can –“
“Game time, girls!” Eliza shouted gleefully. “Come on over!”
Their heads whipped around in unison and saw both Eliza and Kara beckoning them over excitedly.
“After this, we deal with the present,” Alex muttered under her breath. Maggie nodded in agreement as they made their way towards the table.
Clapping her hands together with joy, Kara then outstretched her arms and beamed.
“We’re making gingerbread houses! Mom will be judging them based on three criteria: sturdiness, creativity, and overall visual aesthetics.”
“Is it free-for-all status, or are we doing teams?” Asked Maggie as she surveyed the plentiful spread of baked goods and sweets that littered the table.
“Every woman for themselves. You get fifteen minutes, but I’ll leave the room first so I can’t tell who’s house is who’s,” Eliza stated while backing away. “Good luck!”
Maggie grinned wickedly and nudged Alex in the shoulder playfully, “You’re going down, Danvers.”
“In your dreams,” Alex shot back with an equally devious expression.
All at once, the three women lunged towards the graham crackers and sweets and began plating their creations. Working with impressive precision and swiftness, Alex’s house seemed to be taking shape before the others. Its double decker design featured a functioning door, adorable open windows (how in the world? grumbled Maggie), and a roof with perfectly placed individual shingles comprised of chocolate squares.
Kara’s, while cute and quaint, favored a more traditional approach, which led to a more simplistic construction. It was by no means creative, but it certainly had a beautiful look and the sugary lines were crisp and clean.
Growling in frustration, Maggie slapped a crooked candy cane off the roof of her house. She was going for a chimney effect, but it more resembled a sad, dying snake poking its head out of an unfortunate pile of mud. Her roof was in shambles and with each passing second she kept glancing at Alex’s house with competitive ire.
There was no way she’d lose to her. It was all or nothing. Either Maggie won or neither would win.
Time ticked by. Maggie felt her chances of winning slipping away. Her house looked horrible and Alex’s was a work of art that belonged in the Geffen Contemporary. She did the only thing a desperate human with nothing left to lose would do.
“You’ll never win!”
A vicious battle cry erupted from her throat as Maggie started chucking gobstoppers and gumdrops at Alex’s confectionary mansion, puncturing holes in the roof and causing sections to collapse. It was like witnessing a hailstorm and Alex’s eyes grew wide in horror.
“What are you doing?!” She yelled shrilly as she attempted to shield the tiny home with her arms.
“If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me!”
More hard candies flew through the air like missiles – candy canes, Jolly Ranchers, Warheads, you name it – and Alex’s dream home crumbled into a mish mashed heap of colorful sweets.
Forgoing the house, Alex swiped her hands in a bowl of frosting and started swinging at the offender’s face. Streaks of green and white frosting smeared across Maggie’s cheeks and nose and she bellowed with laughter. Joining in the fight, she ran her hand through her own red frosting and managed to smudge a long trail along Alex’s forehead.
The two went at it for several seconds before Eliza wandered back in. Taking in the sight of the marred gingerbread houses and the grown women with frosting all over their guilty faces, she simply smiled and pointed to Kara’s simple but untouched home. “I believe we have a winner.”
“Totally unfair; Maggie cheated.”
“Yeah? Well, not my fault your house just wasn’t durable.”
“Durable my ass, you practically made it rain with every candy possible!”
“My statement still stands.”
Alex got one last swipe in and bopped Maggie on the tip of her nose with white frosting, eliciting laughter all around.
They headed to the bathroom to get cleaned up while Kara and Eliza cleared the table for dinner. The nerves kicked in once more and as Maggie splashed her face with water to clear off the icing, her mind ran through scenarios regarding how to escape with the gift.
They couldn’t just leave; neither had dinner yet and there was no valid way to escape without opening presents. Maybe if they had a brown bag, they could try and shove it towards the bottom… perhaps start stacking more opened gifts on top in hopes of hiding it at the bottom… make a quick getaway before they notice anything in the bag…
“If you’ve got any bright ideas, I suggest you bring them up now,” Alex mentioned as she dried her face with the bathroom towels.
Maggie scratched the back of her head and sighed, “I can try and make a run for it. Say I’ve left something in the car?"
“That’ll never work, but it’s worth a shot anyways.”
The pair exited the bathroom – Maggie headed towards the presents and Alex approached the table, her hands folded behind her back – before executing their measly grab and go attempt.
“So Kara, congrats on winning the gingerbread house game. Yours was uh… very well-constructed.”
“Umm… thanks?” Mild confusion washed over Kara’s features at the sudden compliment, but the moment Maggie reached for the gift, she shouted out at her like an eagle watching its prey, clearly focused and not distracted whatsoever by Alex’s small talk.
“Don’t you even think about it!”
So much for a diversion.
“Dinner before presents, that’s the rule.”
Maggie released a heavy sigh and took a seat at the table, her shoulders slumped from yet another failed attempt. Even the sight of a delicious spread of food hardly assuaged her mounting anxiety.
She started making defeated compromises in her mind. Maybe if Alex opened it slowly, didn’t make a fuss, perhaps nobody would ask about it? The packaging was pretty discreet. It was just a black box with – no. Who was she kidding? There was a giant picture of the product on the side.
She’d have to kick the box under the couch or try and hide it so far under the tree that nobody would see it. No, that wouldn’t work either. Of course everyone always checks extra hard to make sure no gifts went unopened.
She could argue that the gift was meant for home and that they can’t open it here, but then they would’ve asked why it wasn’t opened earlier that day and would insist they unwrap it right then and there.
No matter how Maggie looked at it, they were screwed.
Dinner proceeded with playful banter between the Danvers sisters, but remained mostly quiet since everyone was stuffing their face full. Eliza asked Maggie about her family and where they were at, and so she brought up her parents in Nebraska and how they missed their only child. She mentioned how she didn’t mind being away for the holidays, but she’d make sure to call her parents one more time later that night to wish them a merry Christmas.
She could only stall so much. Dinner came to an end and everyone finished whatever was on their plates. Alex shot Maggie a worried glance as they helped clean up the dishes and before they knew it, it was unwrapping time.
Each took a seat on the couches and started divvying up the gifts. Some still had presents labeled ‘from Santa’, despite everyone being well into their late twenties, but Maggie found it endearing.
They went in a round robin fashion with Kara kicking it off.
Adorable pajamas with a repeating puppy pattern, complete with matching socks. Quite tame and entirely Kara.
Alex went next.
A sleek, high quality wine aerator perfect for those nights for unwinding with a nice glass or two. Perfectly practical.
Maggie opened up her first gift.
Dark black and authentic, she pulled out a brand new leather jacket with gleaming silver zippers and just the right amount of pockets. This family was too pure and too good to her.
They continued on, each family member watching intently with oohs and aahs appropriately following a gift’s reveal.
But then the time came.
“Hey, there’s one last gift.” Kara pointed to the present that Maggie had tried her best to kick as far behind the tree as possible but to no avail. Eliza stood up from the couch and retrieved the present. She gave it a good shake and Alex’s eyes went wide.
“Alex, sweetie, it’s for you. I think it’s something good inside."
Maggie stifled a laugh as Eliza handed it over, the present weighing in Alex’s hands like the end of the world.
“Ah no, it’s okay this one is from Maggie,” Alex placed a heavy emphasis on her name as she shot her an intense look, “so we’ll just uh, open this one at home.”
“No dear, why not just open it now?”
“Mom, I really think I should just do it at home.”
“But the family is all here.”
Alex looked like she was sweating bullets - her hands shook, face red as a beet – as she clutched the present in her hands in a death grip. Shooting one last pleading look to Maggie, to which the NCPD officer merely shrugged her shoulders in a conceding manner, Alex gingerly toyed with the edge of the wrapping paper.
If her family saw this it would traumatize them. She would never live this down and who knows what her mom would think of her? Yes, Eliza mentioned that she’d always love her, but these kinds of things… she’d just rather not share everything with her mom.
Amidst Alex’s silent hesitation, Kara yelped in surprise and very nearly fell off the couch from how far she jolted.
The entire family stared at her, both startled and puzzled as to why she let out such a sudden noise.
“Kara honey, what is it?”
“Is there a spider?” Alex’s eyes scanned the ground urgently - she hated spiders.
“N-no, everything’s fine,” stuttered Kara as she readjusted her glasses, “but I th-think they can open that one at home. It’s fine just this once.”
Maggie frowned. She wasn’t sure why the change of heart, but she wasn’t about to complain. They were off the hook and all seemed well.
But Alex knew her sister. Something was wrong – she didn’t screech like that for nothing.
The deep blush that dominated Kara’s face, the flustered behavior, her sudden inability to stare either of them in the eyes.
And then it clicked.
Oh yeah, x-ray vision.