Christmas Morning: Eirly and Malcolm

Posted on Mon Jan 13th, 2025 @ 12:07am by Lieutenant JG Malcolm Beckett M.D. & Lieutenant Eirly Andersen

1,663 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Happy Holidays
Location: Deck 6: Eirly's Quarters
Timeline: 0930, December 25th

Even though she knew not everyone celebrated Christmas per se, Eirly knew there was always a reason to get together, and that's what she endeavoured to do each year with Kasper. It just happened that this time Malcolm was added, and she couldn't be happier.

She had spent a couple of hours in the morning down at the Sugarplum Cafe making some Christmas-themed sweet goodies and packaging them up into little boxes with her own little sticker on them and inside were gingerbread candy canes piped with red, green and white icing, round little spiced apple Danish's, and mint chocolate chip cookies amongst other things. A total of ten little boxes, including a bigger one for Nash and his family, had been made.

Fixing the small number of decorations she had replicated and placed throughout her quarters, Eirly looked around and smiled at the feeling of joy it brought her and hoped it wasn't too much and that everyone else liked it. There was a small stack of presents nicely arranged on the coffee table and she couldn't wait to give Malcolm his one, she just hoped he would appreciate the significance of it. Speaking of, he should have been arriving soon, having gone to do something earlier in the morning.

Malcolm returned to Eirly's quarters with a giftbag and a large carafe filled with mulled cider. Eirly had told him to come on in, but he still felt a bit shy about doing that, so touched the door chime announcing his presence.

As the doors opened, Eirly gave him the smile she reserved just for him, "You spend just as much time here as I do in your quarters, you know you don't need to be buzzed in, right?" She gave him a quick kiss as he walked in and then looked to the gift-bag he was holding, "Ooh, what's in that?"

"Merry Christmas. Do you want to open it now, or later?" Malcolm asked. He handed her the bag and looked for a spot to place the carafe.

She giggled in response as she took the bag from him, "I'd love to open it now, only if you want to open yours now as well?" Walking over to her present for him, she picked it up and held it out. "Otherwise, I can also wait."

"Sure, why not. We're not expecting Kasper to be on time, are we?" Malcolm joked as he took the present from her.

She shook her head in response, "I have a feeling that he's sorted things out with Charlotte, so he'll be late for sure. But I also think he might bring her as well, so we'll see what time he rocks up. Maybe twenty minutes late?"

Taking a seat on the sofa, Eirly took a small box out of the bag and opened it up to reveal what looked like a single pearl necklace hanging from a white gold chain. "Oh my... Mal, this is gorgeous!" It was probably the most beautiful piece of jewelry she had ever seen in her life as she asked for him to put it on her as she smiled wide and was lost for words, "I... This is so beautiful, can you please put it on me?"

"Of course." When Malcolm took the necklace from her, he held the round pendant in his palm. "This is the sky in Denmark right now. When the sun rises there, it will change colors to show the sunrise and the different times of day."

He let her look at it a second longer, then took the clasp and let her hold her hair out of the way before fastening the necklace around her neck.

"How?" Eirly asked as she turned to face him, looking between the pendant and his face. The sky was black, so it must've been night. There were tears in her eyes because she suddenly really missed home a lot, but they were happy and she was smiling, "This is perfect, I love it so much. I love you."

She gave him a firm kiss on the lips and felt his love as he looked at her with the same love she had for him, "I mean it, this is the most thoughtful and kind and beautiful present I've ever received, and I really do love you for it." Compared to his present for her, her present for him was, well, kind of basic. "I hope you like what I've got you as much as I love mine."

"I'm sure whatever is in here is perfect," Malcolm said as he opened the present she had given him to reveal a framed picture of them dancing at the First Contact Day party. He examined the details in the frame which was made of an aged looking wood with the colors of Malcolm's ancestral tartan woven onto the frame, and a pressed orchid on one corner.

Malcolm smiled when he looked at the photograph. "This whole thing is amazing. The frame, the picture. I didn't realize someone had taken a picture of us that day"

"Neither did I, until I was reading an article different ways ships celebrated First Contact Day, and I saw that photos from our ship were amongst them, then I saw us and thought it was perfect," she admitted as she looked at the photo again. "I really hope you like it, I was figuring you can have it in your quarters to make them feel a little more... personal?"

"It'll be lovely there. Any picture of you is sure to brighten the place up," Malcolm said sincerely as he leaned in to give her a kiss.

"I'm sure there'll be a lot more of the both of us to come, right?" Eirly replied after she kissed him back. "Because I think we could fill an entire wall with our adventures and whatever happens in the future." Then she added cautiously, "Maybe that wall will even be in shared quarters one day."

"I wouldn't dream of getting rid of it, so I'm sure it will have a lovely place on our mantle someday. If you keep me around that long," Malcolm chided.

"I do have a massive favour to ask though," she held the pendant in her hand and looked at it again briefly, still wondering how he managed to get her homeland day and night into it, before she looked back up to him, "Given that it is Christmas Day, I want to know if, when I call my parents, you would like to be there as well? I don't want to put you in an awkward position like my brother did or anything, I'll understand if you say no too."

"I don't mind at all. Your parents are lovely. You might have to clarify with your mum, the state of things. I may have downplayed our relationship a bit when she asked why I wanted the recipe remember," Malcolm stated. "Not that I didnae want to tell her. I just didnae think it was my place and didnae want to talk out of turn."

Her heart skipped a bit when he said our mantle, "I think I can keep you around for a decent while longer," she replied with a smile, "You know you'll probably get the third degree from my father, right? So prepare yourself. Actually, I wonder if the other two are at home with them, hmmm. Might even get to meet them if they are."

"If it gets too heated we could always just pretend a bad connection. I think there was some solar storm or interference or something wasn't there?" Malcolm teased.

She laughed and smacked his arm playfully, "Come on, he's not that bad. I think he's going to love you, especially that you're a doctor."

Malcolm laughed. "I never said it would be bad. You're the one who warned me I'd be getting the questions."

"Has your sister ever had a partner?" She raised her eyebrows at him in a knowing look, "If she has, I'm sure your father would have done the same to them, right?"

"I don't know that their relationship is like that much. She's pretty stubborn and does most of the talking around the house," Malcolm shrugged. "Our mother, she might have more questions actually, but she's more just the curious type."

"Oh gosh, I hope I don't get all the curious questions when she meets me then," she laughed as she cuddled into him, "I'll just freeze and not know what to say. On a different note, I wonder where Kas is?"

"Running on Kasper time, I'm sure," Malcolm said without concern. "You have to figure he was probably at least ten minutes or so late to pick up Charlotte, and just start adding time from there, with whatever else he still had to do this morning."

"Okay, I'll give him fifteen more minutes and if he doesn't show, then I'll just cancel everything, and we can just spend the day together. How does that sound?" Her tone had changed from happy to more annoyed than anything, and it got her thinking that maybe it would be the first year she actually didn't see her brother.

"I'm sure he's on his way. How about some Christmas music to start bringing in the holiday spirit?" Malcolm suggested. "Something to drink?"

"You know what? I'm actually keen to try that mulled wine you brought with you, it looks delicious," Eirly nodded in response.

Malcolm was quick to get on his feet and walk over to get her a mug. "Yes, I'll get that for you. Anything else?" He asked.

Eirly shook her head in response, "No, thank you," She took the mug from him and sank into the couch, motioning for him to join, "Now we just wait and see if he actually shows up."

Malcolm started to walk back over to Eirly when the door chime finally alerted that someone was there.

~tbc~

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