Chapter Text
Vicley First Christmas.
Christmas eve eve Lucas and Vic spent the day in bed. It's where they spent most of the last month since they became exclusive after friendsgiving. Lucas had business at headquarters and was filling in at 23 when he wasn't filling in at 19. He would be stationed at 23 Christmas Eve and Vic had to work on Christmas day. They wouldn't see each other for the next 48 hours.
Christmas Eve, Lucas didn't get much work done between calls. Vic spent Christmas eve doing last minute Christmas shopping for her friends at station 19. They always did a secret santa and this year Vic got Dean, but Vic was in a giving mood and wanted to give everyone a little something .
While shopping Vic had an idea for a Christmas gift or two for her new man friend too. What do you get the guy you've been sleeping with for 2 months who is also your boss's boss's boss and keep it secret. Was it too soon for gifts? Did a gift make them official. Vic shrugged off all the questions she just wanted to make Christmas fun for him since they couldn't spend it together.
She picked up a few more things and went home to get everything ready.
Meanwhile Lucas was at 23 doing last minute online shopping between calls instead of filling out paperwork. An article popped up on his screen "top 10 christmas gifts for your girlfriend". He thought to himself "girlfriend? Is that what Vic is to him? They were exclusive. He really liked spending time with her in and out of bed. He honestly couldn't get enough of her. He looked through the list and thought about getting something for Vic. Whatever it was it had to be subtle and not scare her off for being to serious. He got an idea and decided to make it not so serious. He'd make it fun. He stepped out of the station and went to pick up a few things to prepare for Vic.
------------
Christmas morning - Vic
Vic's alarm went off at 7 am. Shift started at 8. When she opened the front door to exit she was greeted with a gift box on her doorstep. She picked it up and walked it back in to her kitchen. Opening the box, there was a cup of coffee from the coffee shop around the corner along with a fresh made breakfast burrito. She immediately knew it had to be from Lucas Ripley. It was his signature breakfast burrito he made for her when he'd stayed the night and the coffee was perfect. There was also a card in the box:
Merry Christmas Vic.
It is Christmas day
And we are far away.
I have a gift for you
But you must follow clues.
Drive to work safely.
Go to where you first filleted me.
Filleted me? She thought. What did that mean? She grabbed her Lucas Burrito and coffee and headed to work. The whole ride she thought what could that mean. You fillet a fish. But we don't have fish in the station. Maybe there's fish in the fridge. I'll check there. But he said 'filleted him'. What does that mean. She walked into station 19 put her stuff in her locker, changed into her uniform and headed to the kitchen. Travis was in the kitchen making breakfast for the team. Vic started searching the refrigerator. "Travis do we have fish in here?" She asked. "Merry Christmas to you too." He looked at her digging in the refrigerator. "I don't think so. It's too early for fish anyway. Grab a plate. It's time for breakfast." He answered. "I've already had breakfast. Famous Lu…" she stopped herself. "A Christmas burrito and a coffee on the way here. "Sounds delicious. "Travis replied. Vic moved in close to Travis and whispered "what does it mean to fillet a person?" Travis choked on his food. "It means going down on...? Wait are you seeing someone and didn't tell me? I thought you weren't seeing Mayhorne anymore." "No I'm not seeing Mayhorn or anyone right now." She avoided eye contact. They had a moment of awkward silence. "Ok. Well to fillet someone could also mean you chopped someone into pieces literally or figuratively. Like chewed them out, made them feel small"
Suddenly a light went off in Vic's head. "The conference room." She said out loud and darted out of the beanery and to the conference room where she first yelled at Chief Ripley. When she arrived there was a small envelope. In the envelope were 2 movie tickets to a new movie called Aquaman. Vic had mentioned while watching tv with him that the movie looked interesting. He bought the tickets for late night showing on the 27th. Along with the tickets was the next clue:
Here are tickets to what you want to see.
You can take a friend or you can take me
That guy is water and you are fire
We both you know what you desire
There's more to this Christmas day.
The next clue is where we play.
"Where we play? That's my bed. I can't go back home. He must mean something else." She thought to herself. Suddenly the bell rang and she sprang into motion sliding the clue and gift in her back pocket.
When Vic returned from the call she walked towards the beanery. Captain Herrera stopped her and called her into his office. He talked to her about what happened on the call and how she made a good call on the getting the drone out of the kids hair. While Herrera was talking, Vic spotted an item with her name on it. "Where we play!" Vic thought. "He means where we role play in the late nights when he fills in here. "Naughty!" She blurted out. "What was that?" Herrera questioned. "Nothing Sir. Those kids were naughty…" Vic deflected. "Ok let's go upstairs and get that cold breakfast." He quipped directing Vic out of the office. "Oh no. I'm good. You go ahead I'll be up there later." Vic said. Vic watched as the captain ascended the stairs and turned back into the office and closed the door.
She grabbed the item in the corner and ripped it open. Inside there was a shirt. A standard black uniform button down shirt with her name on it. Vic was very confused by the gift. Why would he gift her a work shirt? She read the card with it:
Sometimes play time can get a little rough.
Unlike you, your shirt's not so tough.
Your button may have gone missing
Let's see if this one will survive the kissing.
Its Christmas time and you're on the job.
Find the next clue behind the knob.
She folded the clue and added it to her back pocket. She took her new shirt to her locker to hang up. She was about to go look over the clue in her bunk room when the bell rang again. This call took a few hours but Ripley didn't show up to it. When the team got back to the station they were all worn out. They all peeled off to their bunk rooms to get cleaned up. Vic came out of the showers and decided to put on her new shirt. She turned the doorknob to her room and walked in and there was a red glitter box sitting on her bed. "Knob? Doorknob!" Vic laughed and walked in, closed the door and sat down on the bed and shook the box. It was heavy and hard. What could it be. She ripped the wrapping paper off of it and tore open the box. Inside there was a book. "Knock Knock I'm Kind Of Awesome." Vic laughed at the title of the book and smiled. Then she grabbed the clue with it.
You are awesome. Yes you are.
You have set a pretty high bar.
Getting in and out of the station is a task.
There is more to see behind the mask.
"Mask? He must mean our masks in the turn out room." She thought. Vic finished getting dressed and put all her gifts in the closet. She sent a text to Ripley of just a winking kissy face (😘). He responded back with a detective emoji (🕵️♂️). She laughed at his response knowing what her was up to.
Vic was about to go into the turnout room to get her next clue when Maya yelled for everyone to meet in the beanery as it was time for the gift exchange. Vic ran back to her locker and grabbed her gifts for her team.
Vic gave Dean a set of lowball and highball glasses and a bottle of tequila. Ben gave Vic a scarf and gloves in an odd blue color. "Thanks" she said putting it back in the box and focusing on everyone opening their gifts. She gave everyone a snow globe ornaments with their names on them. While they all admired their gifts from each other Vic went down to the turnout room to find the answer to her next clue.
Sure enough she walked into the turnout room and found another gift and clue in the gas mask hanging in her locker. This time it was a small box. "It can't be a ring. It's way too soon for that. No the box is not ring shaped." She thought as she examined the box. She untied the bow on the box and took off the lid to the box. Inside was a silver keychain with a cactus on it. It was from the restaurant they went to in Tacoma on their day off. They wanted to get out and not worry about people seeing them. Its was kind of their first official date. Then she read the clue:
It may have been just a date
But oh it was great
One for the ages
Like the fire that rages.
The next gift might come at a price
Next clue is all about sp(ice).
She pulled out her phone and texted Lucas again and emoji of a chili pepper (🌶) . He texted back "so close" she ran into the beanery opened the freezer door and there was a fresh pint of double fold vanilla ice cream. Dean walked in "when did we get ice cream?" He opened the freezer but there was no more. "You gonna share? It is Christmas" He asked with puppy dog eyes. Vic took the clue and slid it into her pocket and walked over to grab 2 spoons. "You can only have 2 scoops. This is my Christmas gift." She said. "From who?" He asked. "From me. To me" she answered and rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. I'll find out." He dug his spoon into the ice cream getting a big scoop and walked away.
Vic laughed and dug into her special ice cream. The ice cream was from the local shop that Lucas often stopped by before coming over to Vic's. She always got the double fold vanilla and he got the salted caramel. She sat down at the table and read her next clue.
From spice to ice
You've been naughty and nice
The next gift is high in the sky
I'll serve you something more than pie.
She put her ice cream back in the freezer and went to the roof. The clue was hidden in the corner. There was no gift this time. Just a clue.
Sorry no gift to make you swoon.
But the next gift is after the moon.
Take some time to enjoy the view
It'll be on sight waiting for you.
Vic smiled thinking about the time they spent on the roof of the station together. She didn't think that time would turn into this. Were they moving too fast? Was he serious about this? Was she serious about this? How deep does this run. She could tell they were past infatuation. She genuinely loved spending time with him. It may have been a lot of spice but the non spice was nice too. This Christmas day scavenger hunt and thoughtful gifts showed how much he paid attention to her. She laughed to herself. "He's a goner." She thought about her gifts to him. Did he like his as much as she liked hers. She received a text from him, "is this for me or for you?" Vic laughed and responded back "we will see after the moon."
The rest of Christmas day was quiet. No more calls. The station 19 team ordered Chinese food and watched a movie in the common room then went to sleep. Next morning, they were woken up by a 4 alarm fire at an apartment complex. The team was the first to arrive followed by 23, 42, 81 and Chief Ripley.
Vic looked at the Chief when he arrived, noticing he was wearing a bright red tie and smiling. He smiled back at her and shook his head.
Ripley managed the fire and clearing out the buildings with no casualties. All the teams were gathering their gear and cleaning up the scene. 81 was assigned clean up duty of the building remains. Vic and Travis loaded back into the aide car and Vic had a text message. "Nice shirt." She responded back to Lucas "nice tie. See you soon."
She went back to the station, got changed and collected all her gifts from Lucas. When she got in her car there was another gift with a note on it that said:
Don't open until you get home.
For what's inside is not for you alone.
She drove home as fast as she could. She walked into her apartment that was empty. Lucas wasn't there. There were no gifts. She wanted to see what was in the box. Finally the doorbell rang. Lucas had arrived. He was wearing a blue sweater and a big smile. Vic pulled him inside and kissed him passionately. Lucas pulled away. "Wait. We have the final gift. She went to the living room to get the box and ripped the paper off of it as she walked back to the room. She turned the corner to her room and opened the box. There was nothing. She looked up to Lucas and was surprised….
To be continued…..