Christmas in the Country (A Pocahontas FanFiction)

Recovery Day

Thomas slept in much later than he thought he would've.  It was so nice to be reunited with his real bed.  It was so comfortable and soft, he didn't really want to wake up.  Suddenly, light came spilling into his eyes and a hand set on his shoulder and gave him a gentle shake, "Come on.  Wake up, Sleeping Beauty."  Thomas slowly opened his eyes to see John looking down at him.  He got deeper into his blankets, "Five more minutes?"  John took Thomas under the armpits and lifted him up, "No, you can't have 'five more minutes'.  We're going to the fireworks stand today, remember? Tomorrow's New Year's Eve."  Thomas stretched, "Okay, I'm up.  Just let me get dressed first."

"Okay." he kissed Thomas' head, "Love you."

"Love you, too."

John left the room to let Thomas get dressed.  Thomas quickly threw on a shirt and his overalls and headed downstairs.  The boys got on their shoes while their dad, already ready to go, clapped his hands twice, "Okay, we'll go by the fireworks stand and pick up lunch at the Wendy's on the way and then we'll go by the Walmart to get the cookout stuff and decorations.  How's that sound, kids?"  John tied on his shoes and set to work with Thomas' other shoe, "Whatever sounds good to you."

They said goodbye to their mom and the boys headed out with their dad to the car.  As they got down the road, John insisted they take a selfie and send it to the girls with a promise to get the best fireworks they could find.  When they did, Pocahontas sent a message right back with two kiss emojis.

Once they got to the fireworks stand after stopping by the Wendy's drive-in, Thomas took it in.  Some of their best fireworks were on sale, the youth group was there, it was perfect.  While they drank their sodas, the boys helped their dad pick out their favorites.  Mr. Smith had the final say on whether they would get a certain one or not since he knew the most about fireworks.  When they found all the ones they wanted and they were checking out, John decided to ask what all the profits from the fireworks were going towards, "The youth group mission trip to Africa." the cashier replied.  Thomas' eyes widened, "All the way out to Africa?!"

"Yep."

On their way to the Walmart, John and Thomas discussed what to do with the girls tomorrow while they waited for midnight to strike, "We could show them The Dukes of Hazard.  I'll bet they never seen that before."  John nodded, "Good idea.  Think you could bake up something with Mom?"  Thomas nodded, "We were thinking about cupcakes and cookies."  John could feel his mouth water, "Sounds delicious." and he ruffled Thomas' hair.

In the store, Mr. Smith sent Thomas to get anything he needed for desserts while he and John got the meat and the French fries.  Thomas gladly did and went straight to the baking section.  He knew exactly what they needed: flour, powdered sugar, vanilla, cocoa and chocolate chips.  That done, he went to the meat section to find his dad and brother.  When he didn't find them there, he headed to the frozen section and found them getting the French fries.  Mr. Smith looked up and saw him, "Any trouble?"

"Nope."

After choosing decorations and with shopping done, the boys' excitement grew.  New Year's Eve was going to be amazing and fun and every other possible thing they could ever imagine!

Back home, they helped put up the decorations in the kitchen and living room.  Thomas worked the streamers, "Hey, John, where should I put this other end?"  John looked up at the overhead light, "Why don't we bring them together at the light?"  Thomas nodded, "Yea, take that other end and tape it there."  

"You got it."

Thomas tapped the last streamer and took out the balloons, "You think we should tape the balloons to the light, too?"  John nodded, "Not a bad idea."

"Alright, you blow 'em up and I'll tape 'em."

"Sounds good."

They went like this for all the decorations ending with where they should put the bags of confetti and the Party Poppers, "We could set them next to the TV."  Thomas agreed.

When decorating was finally done, Mrs. Smith had supper ready early, "So you boys can rest before you have to stay up all night."  The boys sat down surprised that decorating took that long, "Well, the whole place is ready at least." John pointed out.  Thomas nodded, "Yea, it was worth it to make the place perfect."  Mr. Smith smiled, "Well, you boys did a very good job.  I bet the high school isn't as well decorated."  John giggled, "No kidding."

After supper and chores, the boys said goodnight and went upstairs.  While Thomas brushed his teeth and John combed his and Thomas' hair, "Hey, bub, you wanna hit the Bro-Room for a minute?"  Thomas nodded, "Always do." Though it was a bit hard to understand when he had his toothbrush in his mouth.  John gave Thomas' hair one last look-over, "Free of tangles, handsome as always, let's hit the Bro-Room."

The Bro-Room was the boys' room of memories.  When they first moved in, they found the room was never used for anything.  So, they cleaned it up and filled it with things leftover from when they were little kids.  It had all their old toys, books, games, photos, CDs, and favorite tv shows on VHS and DVD.  John looked through their VHSs, "Which one will it be?  Blue's Clues, The Doodlebops or The Wonder Pets? Or Yo Gabba Gabba?"  Thomas though hard, "Yo Gabba Gabba, definitely!"  

"Alrighty, it's close to bedtime, how about the 'Sleep' episode?"

"Perfection!"

The boys watched the episode and savored the feelings of nostalgia it brought back.  Even if they were too old for this, it was still some of the best memories they could've asked for.  As kids, it'd actually helped Thomas learn not to be so afraid of the dark.  After the episode, John took out a book and read it aloud to Thomas.  Thomas put his head on John's shoulder and listened sleepily with all his heart.  A perfect ending to a perfect day.

John closed the book and looked at his sleepy brother, "Tired?"  Thomas yawned and nodded, "Mmmhmm."  John gave him a hand up and lead him to Thomas' room, tucked him in, and kissed him goodnight, "Get some rest, we'll be staying up quite a while tomorrow."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."