Since I've never finished a Halloween fic before April, thought it'd be time to break that tradition. Happy Halloween... a little late, but it's at least earlier than April! -- A.L., 11/1/02
It's just a bit of fun fluff, currently the earliest set in the Sandburg Chronicles series.
Thanks to my beta (you know who you are, hon!), Linda for the random comments that inspired bits of the story, and wolfpup for the webspace. Couldn't do it without ya! *kiss* <-- platonic, you understand.
I don't know the boys. Wait, I meant OWN. Lousy spellchecker. I own Maggie (though she's not in this) and Jamie, Ariel owns herself (she's based on someone I know). If you want to borrow my creations, just ask. I'll return the PetFly owned gang in one piece... eventually...
Audrey Lynne
October 30
Jim Ellison could not believe he was doing this. Of course, he reminded himself that it was for his partner's little girl, and that made all the difference. Still, comparing baby costumes for Halloween was not something he'd ever thought he'd find himself doing. After all, they were babies. They couldn't eat the candy, nor did they care it WAS Halloween. But, as Blair had reminded him, they got a lot of attention in those little costumes, and attention was something they DID appreciate. Thus, Jim found himself shopping for the perfect costume for Jamie Sandburg.
If she appreciated his efforts, she didn't show it. Jamie was sitting in her stroller, actively trying to shove her fist into her mouth. Occasionally she'd pause to coo up at her father in that strange language babies spoke, and then it was back to the fist.
Jim picked up an M&M costume, sized for six month olds. "Here, how's this? Red's cute on her." Actually, anything was cute on her.
Blair shook his head, before nudging the stroller with his foot to calm Jamie's whimpering at her discovery of the fact that her fist was, in fact, larger than her mouth. "She'd go nuts in it. Those arm holes are pretty restrictive for a baby as active as she is." As Jamie's whimpers gave way to full-blown crying, Blair scooped her up. She squealed happily, and promptly shoved a fistful of his dark curls into her mouth. "Maybe I could dress her in brown and wrap her in a yellow blanket. She could go as a Milk Dud." He frowned. "Then again, no. My daughter is not going as anything with 'dud' in the name. Oh, by the way, Jim -- we've gotta get candy after this."
"Why?" Jim frowned. The Major Crimes division was in charge of this year's 'safe haven' on Halloween night for children -- they came to the police station for candy, games, and stories. Blair's wife, Maggie, would be working. "I'm not gonna be at the loft; you and Maggie won't be home, and you're bringing Jamie to the station so you won't have a babysitter. Who's answering doors?"
"Naomi," Blair answered. "She LOVES Halloween... and she's getting into town tomorrow. She used to take me and a bunch of my friends out when I was a kid... she always dressed up, herself..."
"As what, a hippie?" Jim teased.
Blair flashed him a cheeky grin. "Nah, she was actually creative, unlike you... Mr. I'm-Going-As-a-Cop."
"Hey, I didn't rent that costume this year for nothing!"
"Yeah, and you only did it because Simon said that everyone had to have an actual costume." Blair grinned. "Anyhow, Naomi's staying at my place, so she's planning to hand out the candy. I told her she could come to the station with us if she wanted, but she's only just recently accepted you and the gang; she's still sorting out her feelings over law enforcement in general..."
"Even though YOU'RE a cop now?" Jim asked.
"Yeah, well, that's different. She's still on a bit of a guilt trip over that, so she's willing to overlook things."
Jim shrugged; he'd never pretended to understand Naomi in the first place. He looked back to the rack of costumes before him. "Pumpkin?"
Blair dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "Nah, it's been overdone."
Jim looked at the next. "Cow?"
"Maggie's cousin is doing that with her kid. Knowing that family, it's best not to give them anything that could start an argument."
"She's YOUR kid... any ideas?"
"Black cat?" Blair teased.
Jim allowed himself a wry smile; it would take Jamie exactly 2.3 seconds to find a way of removing both the ears and tail of the costume. He knew exactly why Blair was suggesting a black cat, and decided to retaliate in kind. "Grey dog?"
Blair inclined his head, conceding the point. "Touche."
Jim couldn't help but laugh as he saw a costume package with the words 'Little Chief' written on the front. He pulled it out to examine it -- a baby Indian chief's costume. "Hey, Chief, look at this one."
Blair took the package and chuckled. "Cute. Wonder if they have an Indian princess?"
Jim looked, and -- sure enough -- there was the little Indian princess dress, right behind the chief costume. "There ya go."
Blair shifted Jamie on his hip slightly to accept the offered costume, and so that she could see it. "Well, what do you think, Little One? You want to be Cascade's resident Cherokee princess?" She squealed with delight, and tugged on his hair. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."
Jim raised an eyebrow. "Cherokee?"
"Yeah." Blair nodded. "See the designs on the dress? They're totally of Cherokee design. Now, a few things might have to be tweaked, like the collar... that's pure Navajo... and the design of the little moccasins is positively Aztec. But Jamie never keeps shoes on anyway, so that doesn't matter. I think I could adjust the collar so it's more Cherokee; that should be easy... unless I wanted to make the dress more Navajo. It just doesn't make sense to mix the two tribes..."
Jim shook his head slowly, tuning Blair out as they headed up front to purchase the costume. You could take the kid out of anthropology, but it seemed you could never take the anthropology out of the kid.
October 31
4:00 PM
With an air of finality, Jim typed in the last sentence of his case report, and saved it. He and his partner were officially done for the day. At least for a couple of hours, long enough for them to get home, get into their costumes, get Jamie into hers, and come back to the station for the safe haven party.
Captain Simon Banks stepped out of his office, into the bullpen, catching the attention of his detectives before they all left. "All right, people -- remember to be back here at six-thirty so we can make sure everything's ready for the party; the kids start coming at seven-thirty. You're welcome to bring your own kids should you have any -- in fact, it's encouraged. And, while it was cute when Major Crimes covered the party three years ago and you ALL showed up as cops, it will not be as amusing this year. The commissioner says costumes; we wear costumes. If my ass is dressed up, yours will all be too. Thank you."
"So what are YOU wearing?" Megan Connor asked Jim, a definite hint of mischief creeping into her accented tone.
"You'll see tonight," Jim said evenly.
"Ah. Secretive. I see." Megan turned to Blair. "You know, it's easy to remember the days when 'cop' WOULD have been a costume for you."
Blair laughed. "Yeah, I know. Just two years. Doesn't seem like it some days. A lot's happened in those two years."
Jim thought about it. Yeah, I'll say... you committed academic suicide, found redemption, got your Ph.D., decided to stay a cop, met a woman, married that woman... had a baby... Jim suspected that the part about deciding to stay a detective had a lot to do with some residual emotions on Blair's part left over from the original scandal. Rainier's administration had been so quick to judge, to toss him aside... he had been quite hurt by it then, and he still was now, even if he had never said as much. There had been a profiling position available, but it would have meant Blair would be working for the Forensics division and would actually not see much of Jim during the day. It didn't pay any better, so Blair had opted to stay where he was.
"So, Sandy, are you bringing the rugrat along?" Megan asked.
Blair nodded. "Yeah, she's going to be an Indian princess."
"Aww," Rhonda said, coming over. "How cute. Great that you're bringing her; we don't see her often enough."
"You women and babies." Jim enjoyed ragging them when he could.
Neither of them debated him, just smiled and nodded in a sort of admittance.
"I hear H is bringing Ariel, too. She wants to dress like the Little Mermaid's Ariel," Rhonda told Megan. Ariel was Henri Brown's almost three year old daughter.
Megan smiled. "Ah, but sea-shell bras? We'll see if he lets her."
Jim waved good-bye to the ladies, and followed Blair out. He knew that getting a six-month old into a costume of any sort could be a time-consuming process. They needed as much of a head start as they could get.
Jim could smell the burning sage from the stairway as they approached Blair's apartment. Naomi was apparently there and in full form. "Blair... she's burning sage again..." He sneezed.
Blair shrugged. "I know. She says it's especially important to cleanse the negativity with a baby around. It didn't hurt me when I was young. She'll turn it off when you get there; she knows you hate the stuff."
"She thinks I'm allergic to it."
"Jim, half the stuff you're allergic to is a cover for the fact that you're so freaking sensitive to it!" Blair exclaimed. "Sage is one of those; she knows that. She didn't at first, but... ah, well."
"Did she get your furniture in harmonic convergence, too?" Jim asked.
"I don't know," Blair replied. "Like I said, she got in this afternoon. She did it last time she was here, so I wouldn't be surprised."
Jim grinned wryly. "Maggie must have LOVED that."
"Actually," Blair explained, "she really liked the new look. Once she got over being pissed." He stuck the key in the lock, and opened the door. "Mom! We're here."
Jim sneezed. "Hi, Naomi."
Naomi Sandburg breezed out of the kitchen and into the living room, with Jamie in a Snuggli pack. Though it restricted her movement somewhat, the baby seemed content to lie slung against her grandmother and look at the bright colors of Naomi's gauzy dress. "Hello, boys." She hugged Blair gently, mindful of the infant between them. Upon seeing her father, Jamie began to jabber at him in her baby talk, as though she were telling him about her day. She held her arms out to him.
Naomi chuckled in an amused way. "Fickle. Oh, all right, go see your daddy." She unfastened the baby sling and handed Jamie to Blair, then turned to give Jim a quick hug. "Actually, it's good you're here now. I can get dressed really quick." She looked over at Blair. "She's as bad about naps as you were, just full of energy."
"Yeah, tell me about it -- ow! Jamie! Daddy's hair is sort of attached! Oh... yeah, that's better, play with the... no, not my glasses!" Blair managed to pry five tiny fingers from his glasses, replaced them on his face, and directed the busy little hands to something safer, like his shirt. Jamie found the concept of pockets utterly fascinating. "Sure, Naomi. Go on; we've got to get Jamie dressed anyway."
"We?" Jim questioned.
Blair looked serious as he answered, "It can often be a two-person job."
Jim discovered the truth in his friend's statement as he held Jamie in place with one hand to keep her from rolling off the changing table while Blair tried to fasten the buttons on her dress. "Is she always this difficult to change?"
"No, actually she's been pretty cooperative this time," Blair said, fastening the last button. He picked the baby up and set her in her crib for a moment. Jamie promptly began to wail, making her displeasure at this treatment known. "Aw, sweetheart. Don't cry. We'll be right back. We just need to get our own stuff on." He handed her a stuffed cat. "Here, play with Mr. Whiskers."
Jamie accepted the peace offering warily, but it provided enough distraction for them to get out of the room.
Jim smiled at Blair. "You mean, she's WORSE about changing clothes usually?"
"Yeah." Blair nodded. "This helped since it was an 8 month size... a little bigger. It's easier to get bigger costumes so they have a little more motion. At least that's what Maggie said. Baby clothes are weird."
"How so?"
"The sizes, man!" Blair continued, pulling the pieces of both his and Jim's costumes from the hall closet. They'd decided not to wear a 'pair' costume (like Batman and Robin) simply because everyone would suspect it. Always keep 'em guessing. He was going as a scarecrow, and Jim would be a Jedi knight (one of the last costumes available at the rental store that Jim did not feel completely foolish in). "That newborn stuff? They REALLY mean newborn. Jamie wore it for maybe two days after she was born. Then I had to put her in three months. Some twelve-month stuff fits a four month old, but some of it would fit a two year old. Jamie's a little small for her age, so I can fit her into 9 month coat, but she's only 6 months old! She was out of the two-month clothes by the time she was two WEEKS old."
"So what size does she wear now?" Jim asked. "I mean, with normal clothes?"
Blair sighed. "Six months. Go figure. I hear the manufacturers are working to correct that problem." He handed Jim the Jedi outfit. "Go get dressed, Obi Wan."
Jim was fussing with the sleeves of the Jedi jacket as he stood in the living room, waiting for Blair, but his jaw dropped as Naomi came out of the bedroom wearing her own costume.
She was dressed as Catwoman.
Naomi Sandburg. Was dressed. As Catwoman. Tight little jumpsuit and all.
And she looked damn good.
Naomi apparently noticed Jim's stare as she re-adjusted the ears of the costume. "Oh, yes, it was on sale... I thought it a tad sexist at first, but then... she WAS a strong female character. I've got a party to go to after this, so I thought it might be fun to greet the kids dressed up."
Blair appeared from out of nowhere -- at least, it seemed that way to Jim, although aliens could have probably teleported into the living room at that point and he wouldn't have noticed. "Catwoman? Cool. Jim? JIM!"
"Oh... sorry, Chief." Jim shook his head. "Where's Jamie?"
Blair nodded at the somewhat sleepy princess in her carrier on the floor. "Right there."
'"Oh... yeah." Jim watched, on the verge of zoning, as Naomi strode from the room to take care of something in the kitchen.
Blair shook his head. "Jim, man -- get a grip!"
Jim blinked for what felt like the first time in ages. "Your mother should NOT look that good in that."
Blair's reply was accompanied by a roll of the eyes. "You just remember that she IS my mother."
The knock at the door was -- as Jim reached out his senses to confirm -- Simon, who was going to pick them up. Traffic was always a nightmare on Halloween, and since Simon had room for Jamie's car seat, they were going to ride with him.
Blair went to answer the door. "Oh, hi, Simon. C'mon in. Cool costume. Holmes, right?"
Simon smiled. "Yes, actually. I convinced Joel to play Watson." He put out his cigar -- Jim suspected it was more in deference to the baby than to Jim's senses.
Blair laughed.
"Who's that, honey?" Naomi called from the kitchen.
"It's Simon," Blair called back.
"Oh!" Naomi hurried back into the room. "Hello, Captain."
Simon's eyes about popped out of his head as he saw the costume. "Hello... Ms. Sandburg."
"Oh, do call me Naomi." A timer in the kitchen buzzed, requiring her attention, and she went back to the kitchen.
Simon turned to Jim with a shocked expression. "Tell me that was not Sandburg's mother wearing THAT outfit."
Jim shook his head. "I can't. It was."
"Wow."
"A-freaking-firmative, sir."
The assignments for locations and jobs at the party had been handed out beforehand, so basic setup was pretty easy. The detectives were done early, and now the fun was in checking out each other's costumes. Rather, teasing each other about the costumes.
Ariel had compromised with her father to be a mermaid that wore a full shirt (so long as it sparkled) and she was kneeling in front of Jamie's baby seat, cooing at the infant. Jamie was entranced by the sparkles on the shirt and seemed to be in a baby form of the zone-out factor.
Rafe was a vampire, complete with tux and cape. They'd long since stopped questioning where he got these things. His partner had come as the King of Siam... but with the balloon pants and small vest, Henri was constantly being mistaken for a genie. Joel, as Simon had mentioned, was Dr. Watson. Rhonda was Wonder Woman, which no one found surprising since they knew she was really the one who kept the division running. Daryl Banks had decided to drop by; he was Tiger Woods. And Megan made a surprisingly realistic-looking 60's flower child.
Jim grinned at Blair, watching Megan in her flowing dress and sandals. "Naomi would approve."
Blair laughed. "Where do you think Megan got the dress?"
"Okay, bets on how long it takes Rafe to try to nibble some young woman's neck?" Henri asked, snickering. The party was about halfway through, and they'd had a ton of kids. Rafe had been on the lookout for young, single, attractive mothers. Daryl had been joining him (though he was hoping for non-mothers).
Megan and Rhonda had been more than happy to watch Jamie for Blair, and they'd had help from women in other divisions who'd stopped by. Jamie was eating up the attention she got, as was little Ariel.
The married detectives -- and the divorced detectives who had no desire to remarry -- were sitting back and enjoying the show... single officer seeks single young woman who's old enough to actually date... has no luck. Just as amusing were all the teenage boys (or dads of visiting kids) who dropped by and couldn't help but stare at either Rhonda's costume, the thigh-high slit in Megan's dress, or both. Jim laughed, wondering just how many males of the species were left in a state of shock after Naomi opened the door. Trick-or-treat, indeed.
Blair scanned the room to ensure that his daughter was still safely being fussed over by someone, then considered Brown's question. "So is this where we cue the 'Jaws' music?"
"I'm surprised it's taken him this long," Simon mused.
"You realize what a pathetic conversation we're having right now, don't you?" Joel asked. "I mean, the whole party, and all we have to discuss is Rafe's and Daryl's dating issues?"
"Well, when Hairboy here got married, he kind of narrowed the field of available dating issues," Henri insisted.
Blair held up his hands in mock defense. "Hey, you find a cute, interesting woman who isn't a psycho... you've seen my track record; you keep her when you got her."
Joel smiled. "All I'm saying is that we really need something to happen to liven things up, or we need to find more interesting things in our lives to talk about..."
"Lives?" Simon joked. "What lives?"
Jim stood up, frowning at a note he'd found in the pocket of his costume's jacket. He was sure it hadn't been there before. "Sandburg... c'mere."
Blair slumped over as though there were a hump on his back, sliding along the floor towards Jim as he walked. "Yes, Master..." It was accompanied by that maniacal chuckle of his.
"Cut the Igor bit. What do you think this means?" Jim handed him the note.
Blair read it. "'Enjoy the night the spirits roam; tomorrow we'll be going home. It's signed 'Thor'... P.S., I hate writing sappy poetry, but Nan made me do it?' Do you know a Thor, Jim?"
"Know?" Jim tried to look innocent. "As in personally? No. I... well... I kinda called the black jaguar -- my spirit guide -- Thor... but that couldn't be it. Besides, who's Nan?"
Blair laughed. "I kinda named the wolf... Nanook, like that Beanie Baby Husky. It just stuck."
"How in the...?" Jim wondered... until he remembered that nudge he thought he'd felt from behind, but he'd turned to see no one. Sneaky cat. Only on Halloween...
A flash of black out of the corner of his vision made him turn, and Jim looked out the window to see a black jaguar looking back in at him. The tail flicked twice in a sort of greeting -- then reached out to snag the wolf that was busy trying to sniff... sensitive... areas of a young woman heading inside. The wolf snarled, but not in a truly angry way, then his tail began to wag as Blair turned to see what Jim was looking at. The jaguar dropped another piece of paper when the wolf wasn't looking, and then the two headed off together. Well, the jaguar strode. The wolf just sort of... bounced.
Jim went outside to retrieve the paper, and had to laugh at the message there.
The End