The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword

Meeting Santa and Meeting the Legion

I sit in the board room waiting for the legion of the undead. I really don't want to be here, I should be with Nikki and Bleu.

It's the first week of December and we're getting ready for Christmas. Today is the day that we planned to take Bleu to go see Santa at the mall. I got called in early this morning saying that I had to come in is morning and I couldn't get out of it. Thanks for that, Henry.

I spin around in the office chair and look at my knapsack. I have that cell phone and I'm sure that Nikki has his in Bleu's knapsack. I dig through my bag and pull out the phone, I dial Nikki's number and the phone rings.

"Hello?" My husband answers.

"Hey babe, has he seen Santa yet?" I ask.

"Not yet, we're in line." Nikki explains. "It's so busy." He sighs.

"Is that mommy?" I hear my son ask and I smile.

"Yeah, it mommy. Want to talk to her?" Nikki asks him.

"Hi mommy!" Bleu squeals and I grin.

"Hi baby, are you excited?" I ask him and he giggles.

"Yeah, I wish you were here though." He admits.

"I wish I was there too, sweetie." I admit as I see the legion of the undead walking towards the board room. "Sweetie, I gotta go. Have fun, okay? I love you."

"I love you too." He says.

"Skylar, are you still there?" Nikki asks.

"Yeah, I am. But I've gotta go the meeting is starting." I explain. "Take lots of pictures for me?"

"I will, I promise." He says. "I love you."

"I love you too and I'll see you later tonight." I promise him. "I've gotta go. I love you."

"I love you too." Nikki says and then I hang up the phone.

I drop my phone back in my knapsack and look up to greet the directors. I awkwardly smile.

"I'm sorry about that." I admit.

We talk for a little while about the basic things, my contract and pay grade, shit like that. Then things starts to turn to this big winter music festival in New York the that takes place the third weekend in December.

"In the simplest of terms, we want you to cover it." Henry says. "It's the sixteenth to the eighteenth. You'd leave the fifteenth and return the nineteenth."

"Can't someone in the New York office cover it?" I ask.

"They want you to cover it, they asked for you by name." One of the directors explains.

"They want the best, Skylar." Henry says calmly. "You're the best at what you do."

"This is right before Christmas, I have a family to worry about." I remind them.

"You'll be back before Christmas." Another director tells me.

"Besides, Nikki's home through until the new year. Bleu won't be with a babysitter, he'd be with his father." Henry reminds me and I sigh.

"Can I talk to Nikki about it?" I ask and they sigh.

"We need your answer by tonight." A director says.

"And you'll have it." I say. "Is this everything?" I ask and they nod. "I'll talk to Nikki and get back to you."

Nikki

Bleu fell asleep in the car after seeing Santa. I pull up to the house to see my wife's Corvette in the driveway. I get Bleu out of his car seat and carry him up to the door. Skylar opens the door and grins.