Widow Sisters and Friends (Restoring Our Broken Hearts): Book 2

The Christmas of a Lifetime: Part 2

Summary: When Christmastime comes around at the compound along with Secret Santa, Natasha, Yelena, Kate, Carol, and Darcy find themselves in the middle of many holiday festivities with many old friends and even a new one or two.

 Natasha, Yelena, Kate, Carol, and Darcy moved up in line a little at long last, waiting to get their pictures taken with Santa.

They all had gone shopping together, and as soon as Kate had spotted the opportunity to get pictures with Santa Claus, she had insisted on the group getting pictures with him. They had figured that surely it could not take too long, and they also could not help but humor Kate when she was so ridiculously excited about something.

So here they were just standing patiently in line as they waited for their turn to get pictures.

However, after a few moments of just standing there in their newest spot in line, it was clear that Yelena was not about to let the peaceful silence persist. She looked over at Kate, raising an eyebrow as she offered her a calculating onceover.

"When we get up there, get on his lap," Yelena dared, and Kate's eyes widened in horror as she looked at her in surprise. Carol laughed after a moment, sheer awkwardness painting the situation and Carol somehow as usual managing to find the humor in it.

"That's really... That's really inappropriate," Kate pointed out, and Yelena rolled her eyes, unimpressed with Kate's statement.

Kate had such a way of pointing out things that were meant to be completely obvious, and it was sometimes annoying for Yelena, even though it did sometimes set Kate up for Yelena's jokes. At times, it was just too easy.

"Well, if it turns out he's a creep, it will be, but if he's just a normal old man, he'll be uncomfortable, and that'll be funny," Yelena pointed out as she gestured to him again. Kate furrowed her brow, looking at him for a long moment as she seemingly evaluated him to try to figure out which sort of old man that he would be despite how far away they all were from getting to the front of the line where he was.

"And hey, if it makes you feel better, just pretend it is Clinton," Yelena declared, and Kate's eyes went comically wide as she gaped at her in utter mortification.

Carol instantly guffawed at Kate's expense, and Darcy sighed, making a face as she sided with Kate. Natasha just shook her head tiredly, figuring that she was going to keep her mouth shut at least for now.

"I'm not sure I'd describe that as making me feel better necessarily," Kate trailed off, and Yelena just scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Are you really that big of a coward?" Yelena questioned, challenging her, and Kate's eyes widened as she looked at her defensively.

"No! Look, if you want to make him uncomfortable so much, why don't you do it? You're small like a little kid already," Kate instantly froze, clamming up as she fully realized what she had said to Yelena so utterly impulsively.

Yelena narrowed her eyes intensely, and if her eyes were any more narrowed than they were currently, they would turn into slits. She simply glared at Kate without a word, and Carol grinned widely as she fully enjoyed the entire thing, but especially Kate's daringness.

"Wow... I think you left short-stack speechless. What a rarity," Carol declared, wrapping a playful yet affectionate arm around Kate's shoulders.

Instantly, Kate leaned into her side. While this was mostly because she was hoping that Carol was going to protect her from Yelena's wrath, she also did treasure the camaraderie since Carol was the other tallest person in the room. Carol was one of those people that always appreciated a good short person joke, and she was never above making them at literally anyone's expense.