Of Popcorn and Pine Trees

by Red_921 and Lady Saddlebred

Title: Of Popcorn and Pine Trees

Authors: Red_921 and Lady Saddlebred

Archive: yes, please

Category: Qui/Obi, Alternate Reality, Romance

Rating: PG

Series: Lessons They Never Taught Me in School (archived)

Disclaimer: George Lucas owns everything (or he did, until he sold it to Disney). We own nothing, just playing in the playground.

Thanks always to Katbear and Merry Amelie, notre betas par excellence! However, this one was very spur of the moment and was not beta'ed, so any mistakes are mine, sorry.

Feedback: please feed the hungry bunnies!

Summary: The boys spread a little Christmas cheer.

It was their first Christmas together.

Quinn made reservations at their favorite restaurant. Ben burned a CD of their favorite Christmas music and they hummed along as the Jag purred down the road. Quinn's special homemade eggnog, liberally laced with Irish whiskey, was waiting for them back at the brownstone. The evening was full of possibilities.

Ben glanced up as the car slowed. "What's wrong?"

Quinn nodded toward the side of the road. "That always gets to me," he said glumly.

"What does?"

"All those Christmas trees, cut down in their prime and then don't get picked. They look so forlorn, so...abandoned."

Ben smiled. Only Quinn could feel sorry for a Christmas tree. Then again, it was a plant. He stared out the window at the small tree lot. "What about the poor guy selling them? He has to sit there for hours, just in case somebody wants a tree at the last minute. Man, he looks cold." He shivered and reached to turn up the car's heater.

Quinn pulled over. "You're right, Ben. Let's do something about that, shall we?"

"O...kay," Ben said slowly, bemusedly following his lover out of the car. This should be interesting.

"Good evening," said Quinn politely to the tree seller. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you, sir," the man said, with big smile. "Looking for a tree? Got a couple of real nice ones left. I can make you gentlemen a good deal."

"How much?" Quinn asked, pulling out his wallet.

"Which one?" the man asked, moving toward the trees leaning up against the makeshift barrier.

"All of them."

The man stared and Ben fought back a grin. "All- all of them?"

"That's right," Quinn said nonchalantly. "I assume cash is acceptable?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, cash is great, thanks," the man stammered. "But, sir, all of the trees? You must have a really big house." He glanced questioningly over at Ben, then back at Quinn.

"Oh, they're not for us," Quinn said.

"Quinn," Ben said softly, "what are you up to?"

"Just making merry, Benjamin," Quinn replied, eyes twinkling. "'Tis the season, after all."

"And just exactly how are you going to get them... wherever? The Jag's not really suited for hauling trees."

Quinn paused, frowning. "Damn."

"Uh huh."

"Not to worry," Quinn said firmly. Turning back to the tree seller, he asked, "You'll be closing up shop now that your inventory is depleted?"

The man grinned. "Yeah, thanks to you. Really appreciate it. Got two little ones at home and lots to do for Christmas morning."

Quinn nodded. "Might we prevail upon you for a quick detour before you go home to your family?"

"What'd you have in mind?"

"Would you deliver these trees to the St Joseph's Children's Orphanage over on Briarwood?"

"Sure thing!" the man said, beaming. "It's right on my way. That's really nice of you, sir. I'm sure the kids'll appreciate it."

Quinn handed the man several bills. "Will this cover it?"

The man gulped. "Um, that's more than enough. Here-" He tried to hand the money back, but Quinn shook his head and put his wallet back in his pocket. "Sir, really, it's-"

"Merry Christmas." Quinn clapped the tree seller on the shoulder, then turned to Ben. "Let's go find some lights, what do you say?"

Ben grinned. "You're on, Santa." He waved to the man, who was still stammering his thanks, and they climbed back into the warm car.

"Merry Christmas!" the tree seller called after them, stuffing the bills in his coat pocket. He had some trees to deliver.

Unfortunately, the area stores traditionally closed early for Christmas Eve. No lights. No decorations. Quinn fumed. "Damn it, we can't send those kids a bunch of naked trees."

Ben peered through the windshield. "Pull in up ahead. I've got an idea."

Quinn obediently turned into the mostly dark shopping center. "Where are we going?"

"There," Ben pointed.

"A green grocer?"

"Yup," Ben said proudly.

"I'm intrigued," Quinn murmured, as he pulled into a parking space.

"C'mon, old man," Ben teased. "You mean you never decorated a Christmas tree with popcorn before?"

The children were thrilled when the Christmas trees showed up at their door, followed by two men armed to the eyebrows with bags of popcorn and all manner of convenience store goodies.

A couple of boxes of used and abused decorations were dredged up from the basement. Ben carefully disentangled ancient strings of lights and surprisingly was able to get nearly all of them working, to the combined cheers of the orphans and Quinn. Their caregivers produced construction paper, scissors and tape, and soon multi-colored garlands and all manner of imaginative paper ornaments were ready for hanging. Quinn and Ben set up the trees around the room, and the children swarmed over them with their homemade decorations. Ben showed them how to string the popcorn, though more got eaten than made it onto the trees. But that was to be expected.

Every salvageable ornament was carefully distributed among the trees, and the one useable star was unanimously ceded to the tallest tree in the front of the room. Lots were drawn and the lucky little girl chosen secured the star to the top of the tree from atop Quinn's broad shoulders. She gave him a big hug and a kiss as he carefully set her back down.

"Thank you, Mithir Thanta, thir," she lisped, and Ben's heart did a slow flipflop at the depth of emotion in his lover's eyes. He'd have made a wonderful father.

Ben retrieved his laptop from the car and entertained the children with slideshows and music videos. Quinn prowled the floor on all fours, the smaller kids crawling over him like so many puppies. He growled deep in his throat and the youngsters screamed in delighted terror, then rushed him in a body until he howled in surrender. Ben could only imagine the beating Quinn's bad knee was taking on that hard tile floor, but wisely refrained from interfering.

"Mr. Donovan, we cannot thank you enough," the Mother Superior said for the umpteenth time. "You've made the children so happy. God bless you both."

Quinn grinned up at her from the floor. "Our pleasure, Mother. Couldn't stand the thought of all those Christmas trees and no one to enjoy them." His glance lingered on Ben, who was laughingly teaching the older children the lyrics to "Grandma Got Over By a Reindeer." Who knew the lad could play the piano?

The Mother Superior followed his gaze. "Maybe you just had a bit of... extra motivation this year," she said softly. At Quinn's startled look, she added, "Your typically generous donation arrived a few days ago. Tonight was, I think, more spontaneous."

Quinn managed to look completely innocent. "I have no idea what you're referring to, Mother, sorry."

The Mother Superior gave him a conspiratorial smile. "Relax, Mr. Donovan. Your little "Santa secret" is safe with me. I won't question your reasons for wanting to remain nameless. But rest assured, your gifts over the years have been very much appreciated. It's good to finally be able to say thank you in person."

Quinn smiled. "You're very welcome, Mother." He gave her an impertinent wink. "I just hated seeing those trees go to waste."

Ben proudly regarded his lover as they drove home. "That was a really nice thing you did tonight."

Quinn shrugged, concentrating on the road ahead. "We did it, Ben. If it wasn't for you, the kids would've just had a bunch of naked trees." He made a mental note to send over some decent lights and ornaments for next year. Christmas decorations were apparently low on the priority list.

"Yeah, but you bought up all those poor `abandoned' trees so that man could go home and have Christmas Eve with his family. You made a lot of people happy. Including me. I can't remember the last time I had that much fun on Christmas Eve." He sqeezed Quinn's leg. "Thank you." There was no answer, but Ben could see the pleased smile under the moustache. "Hey, guess we never quite made it to dinner. I can fix us some eggs when we get home."

Quinn chuckled. "I'm full up on popcorn and cookies, thanks. Though I wouldn't say no to a little" -- he brought Ben's hand to his lips -- "private celebration later."

"Mmm, I like the sound of that, Santa." Ben gave Quinn a sexy smile. "Somebody's been a really good boy this year."

~end~