wheelsy_sheriff | (no subject)

The swelling's minimal and the bruising isn't as bad as she feared it would be. With carefully applied concealer and foundation and a light application of powder, it's hardly noticeable. (She hopes.)

She's spent the better part of the day cleaning and re-organizing the kitchen pantry and cupboards, more for distraction than necessity, and she nearly drops the wineglasses in her hands when Bill's boots thump against the front door.

Hearing his voice, she puts down the glasses and hurries to the foyer.

She blinks at the evergreen branches that greet her as she swings open the door and half-laughs when her eyes meet Bill's.

"Wow."

"Hey." He offers her a smile then jerks his head to the side. "Watch out."

Stepping in backwards he drags the tree with him, struggling to get it through the door. Quickly he gets it propped against the wall before he falls over or drops it.

"Phew, trickier than I thought it was gonna be. Ran out of that netting stuff down at the lot so I been fightin' branches to get it loaded an' out of the truck."

He brushes his hands then rubs at a spot of pine sap with his thumb.

She's still staring at the tree, impressed.

"It's gorgeous."

Its scent is already filling the room, and she takes a deep breath.

" -- so, um."

She glances from the tree to Bill.

"What do we do with it now?"

He smiles proudly then it falters a little as he realizes he could maybe have planned this better.

"Well, uh... I thought we could move the chair and nudge the couch a bit an' set it up in the corner over there. Or maybe right in the front window?"

Looking to her for a decision he mistakes her confusion for questioning of his execution of the situation.

She surveys the living room and nods toward the window.

"I think -- "

A pause.

"Oh, I meant the tree. Doesn't it have to go in a bucket or something?"

"Oh, I got a stand in the shed it'll just take me a minute to..."

He trails off as the realization hits that she's asking how because she doesn't know. Another thought occurs to him and he looks a bit awkward all of a sudden.

"I'm sorry, Kate, I never even asked. Do you, uh, celebrate Christmas?"

He knows she's not Jewish, but there are other reasons not to observe the holiday.

"I do," she assures him. "But I've never, um, handled this part."

She'd never paid much attention to the set-up when she was younger, and for as long as she can remember, the help always took care of it each year.

She gives him a smile tinged with embarrassment.

"Just the decorating."

"Oh, that's all right," His reassures her, smile brightening, "I can get this part. I got some lights an' stuff in the truck but lemme go run an' get that stand an' I can show you how that goes."

He takes a step back away from the tree, eyeing it to make sure it's not going to topple over.

"Watch that for a minute. It starts to fall just go on an' let it, I'll be right back."

He checks the tree again then heads for the back door.

She studies the tree with a critical eye as Bill steps outside.

It looks sturdy enough --

Until it begins to list to one side.

So she ignores what was probably excellent advice and hurries to steady it, bracing the tree against the wall with both arms.

It's heavier than it looks, but at least the wall's taking most of the weight.

Out in the shed Bill's digging around for the tree stand and Christmas decorations. It involves a whole lot of shifting things about, searching high and low, and cursing.

There's a whole lot of the later when he finds the box on a top shelf and pulls it down, only to have a mess of various other objects come down with it including; a tangle of Christmas lights, a plastic beach chair, half an open bag of bird seed and, lastly, the tree stand.

He manages to duck and dodge the heavier items but the bird seed runs down his back, onto his hair and into his shirt collar. The lights tangle about his feet and it's a struggle to get out of the shed, cardboard box and tree stand in tow.

Kicking the chair and lights back into the shed he slams the door muttering as he dusts seed from his hair then heads back to the house.

When he sees Kate he drops the stuff in his hands and hurries over to help.

"Woah!"

She tries to spare a glance over her shoulder when she hears the box land.

"It's fine, it's not falling."

(Though she and her triceps are grateful for the help.)

Once the tree is leaning safely against the wall once more, she steps back and brushes her hands on her jeans, then spots the birdseed dotting Bill's hair and shoulders.

"Everything okay out back?"

"You all right?"

His eyes flick quickly to the left side of her face then he turns back to the tree, fussing with it a bit more to keep it upright. He makes sure it's going to stay before stepping over to pick up the stand again.

"Yep, found what we need."

Bending his head to look down as he loosens the screwposts on the metal stand a few seeds fall from his hair and he brushes it with his hand again trying to knock what's left loose.

She notices his eyes dart to her jaw and turns her head away just a fraction, hoping the slight shift doesn't appear intentional.

Seeing the seeds hit the floor, she moves closer.

Birdseed?

But before she can ask, she's distracted by the tree stand.

He's not sure if he imagines the head turning or not before he bows his head, but he has noticed the job she did of covering up what he saw this morning before he left.

Shaking his head to get a bit more to fall he then turns his attention back to the stand.

Eyeballing the tree trunk he adjusts the stand then sets it down.

"All right, so now, I'm gonna lift this an' set it down in there. What I need you to do is make sure it don't go anywhere an' lemme know if I'm lining it up right. Okay?"

"Sure -- this can't be that hard, right?"

And, between the two of them, it's not; the tree is set in place and fairly straight within a few minutes.

Bill straightens up from tightening the screw posts and brushes his hands off.

"There. See, nothin' to it. Now we'll just get it in the window, if that's where you want it?"

He takes a step to start moving furniture to clear the space out but pauses to make sure with her, first.

"It'll look great there."

She follows him to help move the chair and scoot over the couch.

"Can I, um, ask how this morning went? You don't have to tell me specifics or anything, I know it's personal, but ... was it okay?"

He knew the question was coming but he wasn't sure how he was going to react to it. Even though it went all right he's still not pleased about the idea of therapy.

This time though there isn't that sharp flare of anger that he's felt with its mention like there has been up until now. There's irritation at the thought of it, but it doesn't show as strongly.

He still doesn't want to talk much about it.

"It was all right. We talked the whole time," Meaning he didn't leave early like before, "an' she's pretty nice I guess."

He brings the tree over and sets it in place.

"That's good."

The sudden sting at the corner of her mouth keeps her relieved half-smile in check.

"I'm glad it was better."

She's more than willing to let the subject drop as she turns to the box of decorations.

He turns from the tree back to her with a nod, catching the partial smile, "Yeah, me too."

Looking down at the box he holds up a hand.

"Hang on, lemme get that other stuff."

Heading out to the truck he comes back with two bags of stuff including new Christmas lights, a couple boxes of shiny glass ornaments, a gold garland, hooks and a (opened) box of candy canes.

"Didn't think you'd feel like sorting through the tangled mess of lights I got out in the shed so I bought some new ones an' a few other things. Should still be plenty of usuable stuff in that box there, too, so I figure we outta have enough."

Her face brightens and she reaches for one of the bags, pulling out the box of ornaments and placing them on the couch.

"These should go on first," she says, lifting the box of lights from the bag.

She's opening them when she spies two empty slots in the box of candy canes and chuckles.

"I hope you don't mind sharing those candy canes with me and the branches."

Looking over from pulling the wrapping off of the garland he smiles.

"Of course. Those ones I just... taste test. Let's get those lights on."

He nods to the lights in her hands and moves over to the tree.

She unwinds the lights from the packaging and plugs them in (all the better to check their placement on the branches); after a couple of circles, she hands over the neatly looped strands.

"You're taller, sheriff."

He takes the lights from her, and promptly drops them. So much for neat.

Picking it back up he wraps it around the rest of the tree. There is some bunching and gaps but with Kate's help they get it sorted out.

"Not bad, like how it's even." When he does it himself that's not usually the case. "I think you outta be in charge of the garland, too."

He hands her the shiny golden strand to start it off.

She winds the garland around the base of the tree and works it halfway up before handing it to Bill.

"I think you only like me for my eyeballing skills."