May the odds be evah in ya favor
Who: Helena, Harley and NPC!Christina What: Snowball fights and tree decorating where: Near Helena's home Status: complete Rating: PG
Christina coming to visit over Christmas had been something Helena had been looking forward to. It gave her something good to hold onto while dealing with the fallout of her dreams. And having Harley there with her meant the world to her. It was good to know that she wasn’t alone at a time when she felt like she was alone.
Though of course the snow had come again, much like it had the previous year. Something about it did bring out Helena’s more playful side and helped to cheer her up more. And of course when she met her parents and Christina at the airport, there was a tearful reunion with her daughter. Helena had hugged Christina so tightly. The past four months had seemed so long to her, and it had been the longest that Helena had been away from her daughter.
So of course once everyone was settled and her parents had decided to go off and do something on their own, Helena had decided playing in the snow was needed. And at least Harley could be around without her mother’s running commentary in the background for the time being.
“So what shall it be, building snowmen or snow forts?” Helena asked as she helped get Christina bundled up. Of course snow forts implied that there would be a snowball fight following that construction.
“I think there’s need for a snowman, but I still like the thought of a snowball fight.” Christina said with a grin.
Harley had been on her best behaviour, at least around Helena’s mother. Of course she stayed close to Helena and had the occasional wry comment but there was a child present, so she had to be careful with her words.
But once the mother-in-law-of-sorts was out of the picture, she pulled her hair up into pigtails and was completely 100% behind the idea of snowball fights and snowmen. “You heard the lady, dollface! What about a snow army to go with the snowball fight? Too bad they ain’t gonna come to life or nothing. But I did get ta meet Frosty and all.”
“I rather think a snow army would be needed.” Helena said with a smile, then after finishing helping to get Christina bundled up, she pulled on her own coat, grabbed a scarf and started wrapping it around her neck.
“Frosty? You met Frosty??” Christina asked excitedly, looking up at Harley. “What was he like?” Whether or not she believed that Frosty was actually real or not didn’t matter. She just had that child-like curiosity and enthusiasm for these things.
"Yes! He rhymed when he talked and everything. We egged some dic--jerk's house." Harley grinned proudly, and pulled on her jacket. She was actually wearing pants, more for the kid's sake than the cold, and had gloves and big goofy looking earmuffs. Because it wasn't winter without big goofy looking earmuffs that had queen of hearts painted on them.
"You shouldn't egg someone's house." Then she whispered so Helena couldn't hear. "Unless they deserve it."
Christina ooed and awed a bit. “That’s brilliant! Though I’m not certain what you mean by egg someone’s house.” She wasn’t certain if it was American slang for something or what. However, she giggled at Harley’s added whisper.
Helena raised her eyebrows a bit at Christina’s giggle in response to Harley’s whisper, but she didn’t say anything about it. She grabbed her own earmuffs and slid them on, then grabbed her gloves. “Alright, I believe we should get to building that snow army, hm? Then we can get on with a snowball fight.”
"It means throwing raw eggs at someone's house. Pain in the butt to clean up. Don't emulate me. Emulating me is bad." She grinned widely, then laughed and bounced past Helena and outside. She wanted to make a lewd snowman but that could wait until later when Christina was in bed and it wasn't a lewd snowman that Harley was going to make but a lewd dinner with Helena. Much better than a lewd Snowman.
"Yes, exactly!" And she promptly threw a snowball at Helena's face.
“Ohh! That does sound like it’s terribly difficult to clean up.” Christina wrinkled her nose a bit, but quickly dashed outside after Harley. While Harley saw fit to fire the first shot, Christina just went about finding a good place to begin making her first snowman.
Helena had stepped outside and barely gotten the door closed when the snowball came flying at her face. She squeaked in surprised, managing to turn her head enough that it made contact with her cheek instead of her nose. She then eyed Harley, a smirk tugging at her lips and a sly glint in her dark eyes.
“Well now, I see how it is,” she said as she then threw a snowball back at Harley.
“I forgot how fucking adorable she is,” Harley said, after she’d gotten close to Helena again. She wiped snow off of her face and chest, then darted in close to kiss her. And dump a handful of snow down Helena’s shirt in the process. A small handful. Just enough to be cold.
“It’s good to have her here again.” Though Christina wouldn’t be staying. Helena wasn’t mentally ready for that just yet. But hopefully by the summer, she could work through enough of her issues to be stable and be able to be a parent again. Helena returned the kiss, thoroughly distracted by it that she didn’t notice Harley’s ulterior motive until it was too late. And Helena yelped and promptly tried to get the snow out of her shirt. “I shall get you for that.” It was a promise, though Helena would be crafty about getting her revenge.
"Are you sure you don't want her to stay?" Harley had to ask, even if she knew what the right answer was. She wanted to hear Helena say it. It was still too soon after her last break. She poked Helena and danced away. "Only if you catch me!"
“Yes, I’m sure. I am not ready to be a mother full time again.” Some days she didn’t think she was ready to be around people, and some days she thought she should be in an asylum somewhere. It hurt to say it, but it was for the best. Helena wasn’t going to risk her daughter being hurt or neglected because she had too many of her own issues to handle.
Though she smirked as Harley danced away. “Oh I’ll catch you, love.” Helena then darted after Harley. Christina looked up from the snowman she’d started to make and giggled at her mother and Harley.
Harley wouldn't mind Christina staying around. It was a thought that was surprising to her. She wasn't the mothering type but she liked Christina and she loved Helena and that was an odd combination. She just wondered if Christina would ever understand the unique and open relationship she had with her mother.
She started to make a stockpile of snowballs. "Christy, me an' you against mom?"
There was a lot that was surprising about the situation. Helena hadn’t seen herself having another relationship after Christina’s father had left her like she’d had the plague. Yet here she was with Harley. And Harley liked Christina, which made it even better.
“Definitely!” Christina grinned, jumping to side with Harley and started stockpiling her own snowballs.
“Well then, the odds are clearly stocked against me!” Helena chimed with a grin as she began to amass her own snowballs. If she was going down, she was going to take them both with her!
"May the odds be evah in ya favor." Harley let her Jersey accent out in full force. She turned to Christina. "Okay. Now your ma favors her right side. That's where she's strongers, so we gotta hit her there so she has to use her left arm which means she'll be weaker. Got it?"
Helena smirked and set about making her snowballs. Given she’d grown up with two brothers and a sister, she was good at strategizing situations just like this. Helena was going to use the terrain to her advantage as much as possible, going so far as to make a few different piles of snowballs she could dart between as needed.
Christina nodded. “Got it. We will take her down in no time!” She was more than optimistic on this, believing she and Harley could take Helena down quickly enough with that plan.
“Let me see your hat.” Harley held her hand out for it. “I’m gonna poke it up and she’ll attack it and then you’re gonna attack her! We’ll overwhelm her with snowball attack delta!”
Snowball attack plan Delta being a plan she’d just made up on the spot.
Christina grinned and nodded. “Excellent!” And as requested, Christina slipped her hat off and gave it to Harley.
Meanwhile, Helena kept an eye out as she readied her own plan of attack. She didn’t have any clever name for it, but she positioned herself and waited to see if her girlfriend and her daughter would make the first move, or if she would have to.
Christina’s hat popped up, as though she were trying to see where her mom was.
Helena spied the hat when it popped up and she waited for several moments. Then she launched a snowball at it.
When the snowball finally came, Christina leapt up, located her mother and launched her attack. Which made Helena yelp as she was hit in the thigh. Which also told Christina she needed better trajectory on her throws. So she tried again, in quick succession, and hit Helena on the right side of her chest the second time.
Harley hopped out as well, throwing a barrage of snowballs at her girlfriend’s arm. She jumped over the snow bank and charged for her. “Alpha Yeti Attack!” It was another attack she made up on the spot and the goal was the tackle Helena. She lept!
Oh no, this wasn’t going to plan. Helena was getting pelted and couldn’t launch a counter-attack. However, she could still move. So, that is what she planned to do.
Hearing Harley’s attack yell, Christina jumped out and followed after Harley, hurling more snowballs at her mother. Who now was turning and dashing off, managing to miss getting tackled by Harley that time.
“Ah! Missed me!” Helena said as she glanced back at Harley before she dove and armed herself from one of the stockpiles she’d made. She then started unleashing an attack of her own on Harley and Christina, alternating targets.
Flying into a snowbank, Harley flailed around in it until she was able to get out of the death cushion of snow. She got a facefull of snow, and cried out. "I'm hit! I'm hit! It's too late for me!" She grabbed her chest and stumbled around. "I'm a gonner! I'm done for! It's the end!"
Helena couldn’t help but to laugh a bit as Harley stumbled around. “Score one for me, then!” She teased.
“You shall be avenged!” Christina yelled and promptly launched a snowball that hit Helena square in the face. Which sent Helena into a state similar to Harley.
“Curses! My plan is foiled!” Helena said as she clutched her chest and fell to her knees.
“Christy wins!” Harley lobbed a huge snowball at Christina. “Oh no! The bitter feeling of betrayal!” She dove for cover, expecting attack from one or both sides. She had, after all, just betrayed her partner but it was an important life lesson. Honest!
Christina yelped when she was hit by the snowball. “Nooooo! The sting of betrayal!!” She wailed, trying to suppress laughter as well.
Helena smirked, and once she was done putting on her act of dying, she leapt to her feet. “I shall avenge you, my daughter!” And she promptly went after Harley. And it was her intention to pounce on Harley instead of hitting her with a snowball. And so she pounced once she reached Harley’s hiding place.
Harley wrapped her warms around Helena as she slammed into her, and they fell into the snow. She started to laugh, hugging Helena to her body and kissing her suddenly and fiercely. She whispered. “I love you. Lets both get Christina.”
As she and Harley fell into the snow, Helena also laughed before she was silenced by the kiss, which she of course returned. And she grinned. “I love you, too. And agreed. Let’s.” She pressed another kiss to Harley’s lips before she pulled back and sat up. She armed herself then peeked out to see what Christina was up to.
Christina was curious as to what was going on, and after she took a step closer to where Harley and Helena were, Helena popped up and gave a surprise attack to Christina.
Really. They could make out in the snow all day and Harley would be happy. She smiled fondly at Helena as she attacked her own daughter, then crawled around to the other side and latched onto Chrstina’s legs. “Got ‘er! Let er rip!”
“Hey! That’s not fair!” Christina squealed as Harley latched onto her legs. Though it was one of amusement, not of anything else.
“Fair or not, I shall take the opportunity while I have it!” And then she promptly fired some snowballs at her daughter. It was revenge for the assault Christina had helped Harley wage on her earlier. Christina burst out in laughter as she was assaulted with snowballs. “Now, let her go, Harley. I’m coming in!” And Helena charged, intending to tackle Christina into the snow.
Squealing with laughter, Harley let go of Christina as ordered and rolled out of the way. It wasn’t very far, her ability to roll in the snow, but it was far enough for Helena to have some proper bonding time with her daughter. She sat up, grinning, and watched them.
Christina braced herself for impact, and screamed in laughter as Helena tackled her into the snow. Helena’s laughter quickly followed and she rolled in the snow a bit, eventually getting to where she was on her back with Christina on top of her.
“Mummy’s got you now.” Helena grinned, then leaned up and pressed some kisses all over Christina’s face. At least she was still of an age where she didn’t pull away from such actions. Helena then sat up and hugged Christina close. “You’re getting so big, too!”
“I am! I grew a bit!” Christina announced proudly, with a grin.
“That’s my girl. You’re going to grow up to be nice and strong at this rate!” Helena grinned, then looked over at Harley. And then she got a mischievous glint in her eye, leaned in and whispered something in Christina’s ear. At which point, Christina giggled, then got up and ran over to tackle Harley.
“Uh oh.” Harley scrambled to escape, but there was too much snow and then Christina was on her. She went back down, face first into the snow with the girl on her back. And she laid there perfectly still, playing dead.
“I got you!” Christina announced. She sat on Harley triumphantly for a few moments before rolling off of her.
Helena came over and plopped down in the snow beside Harley. “I think we all won, wouldn’t you agree?” Considering they each had gotten their hits in and taken their hits. Helena also had a wide smile on her face.
Harley gave them a thumbs up, before shifting into a sitting position. Her face was red from the cold and the exertion and her ponytails had come undone and her makeup - was actually pretty well in place amazing. "I'm having the time of my life! I've always loved winter. Red hated the whole plants dying thing and oh my god don't get her started on Ex Mas trees, even fake ones. But I love it."
She put her arms around each of them. "I know it's your day with you two but this means a lot to me too."
“Winter is my favorite season, and I quite enjoy the secular meaning of Christmas.” Helena grinned. When she’d initially moved to California a year ago, she’d lamented losing the snow aspect of winter. But she’d certainly been proven wrong on that front two years in a row. And suddenly she realized it wouldn’t be much longer before a year had passed since she’d first gone out on a date with Harley.
Christina grinned and snuggled close to Harley.
Helena slid her arm around Harley as well, a warm smile on her face, cheeks red from the cold. “You both are my girls, and I would have it no other way than to have you both here with me.” Really, it was a nice feeling to be able to have this time with both Harley and Christina. “And what do you say, shall we go inside, have some hot cocoa and decorate the Christmas tree?” Because while Helena had gotten a real Christmas tree a couple days earlier, she hadn’t yet decorated it. Purposefully waiting for Christina to come, then the three of them could decorate it together.
“Yes!” Christina chimed in with a smile.
Harley’s mom was Jewish but her dad wasn’t and they hadn’t really celebrated anything while she’d grown up. So she loved trees and she loved celebrating and she loved presents especially giving them. She squeezed her girls tight, then let go so that they could all get up. “What she said.” She jerked her thumb at Christina. “Dibs on the Pandora station!”
They needed proper music for this, and Harley had exactly the right station already picked out.
Helena grinned and planted a kiss to Harley’s cheek before she got up. “Alright you can do the music, love,” she said to Harley. And Christina was already dashing into the house. Helena chuckled and headed inside, shedding her layers, then going into the kitchen to make some hot chocolate for them all.
Christina ran into the living room and planted herself on the couch, waiting for the other two before starting anything. Helena had already brought out the boxes of ornaments, so they were ready.
“Do you gotta star or an angel?” Harley asked. She liked stars better but as long as she was with them she didn’t really care. She planted her butt next to Christina and looked at Helen expectantly. It was almost like Helena had Two kids right now.
“I have a star. I don’t really like having angels around.” It reminded her more than a little too much of her highly religious mother who’d had angels all over the place at Christmas when she was growing up. Once the hot chocolate was ready, Helena set the mugs on a tray along with some tiny marshmallows and a can of whipped cream and brought it out to the living room.
She smiled at Harley and Christina, noting how they both had similar expectant looks on their faces. “Here’s the hot chocolate with some other fixings you are free to add to your drinks as you wish.”
Nodding, Harley took the hot cocoa, which she promptly added marshmellows, whipped cream and Baileys to. She pretended like she was going to pour some Baileys into Christina’s hot chocolate, because she was, technically, a bad influence.
Christina added a heap of whipped cream to her hot cocoa, then giggled when Harley pretended to pour some Baileys into her drink. Helena just chuckled, shaking her head slightly as she added a few marshmallows and some whipped cream to hers.
“Not until she’s a little older,” she mused. She took a sip of her drink, letting the warmth run through her a bit. “I already put the lights on the tree, so it’s just needing the decorations.” She got up and went to turn the lights on the tree on. Looking at Harley and Christina, she couldn’t help but to smile warmly. It felt like they were a family, decorating the tree together.
The tree was fairly tall, and Harley tried to eye it compared to Christina's height. "Wanna get up on my shoulders to put the star up? You should get the honors!" It would probably end in disaster but that's what made it such a great idea. Danger! Disaster! Crashing the tree down!
But if they were careful it would be just fine.
“Oh, yes I would!” Christina grinned. “May I, mummy?” She asked.
“I don’t see why not.” Other than the potential for disaster, but that was why Helena would be close at hand to try and stop disaster from happening if she could. Besides, she’d lifted Christina up in the past to let her put the tree topper on, so it wouldn’t be that different.
Harley picked her up, half throwing her up onto her shoulders as though she was used to such zany antics with selina people much bigger than Christina. "Okay you be the pilot and I'm the Gundam. Forward, ho!"
Christina giggled as she was hoisted onto Harley’s shoulders. Helena pulled out the star tree topper and handed it up to Christina.
“Onward!” Christina cheered, star clutched in her hand as she eyed the top of the tree carefully as Harley moved close. Helena was close behind to ensure no one got hurt in the process of all this. “A little closer!”
Laughing, Harley got them close to the tree, wobbling on her feet (but actually fully in control of her balance, she just wanted to make Christina shriek or something). "I'm gonna lose it! I'm gonna lose it! We got like ten seconds to get the topper up!"
And Christina did shriek a bit, but it was followed by some laughter. Helena, of course, was watching both of them closely, ready to catch one or both of them if needed.
Christina reached out, stretching her arm a bit and leaning over a bit. It took a little finagling, and her tongue sticking out in concentration, but the star fell into place on top of the tree. “Got it!”
"A winner is you!" Harley bounced around the room with Christina on her shoulders, then stared at Helena and got a wicked grin on her face. "Did you know your ma is ticklish? Lets get her!"
Helena’s eyebrows rose in curiosity at the look Harley gave her. “Oh no. No no no!” She protested.
However, Christina got a wicked grin on her face as well. “Yes! Let’s get her!”
“Yes! Yes oh yes!” Harley started running towards Helena, leaning forward to get some extra range via Christina. “Aim for her shoulder!”
Helena turned and started to run. However, with Harley’s speed and the extra range due to Christina’s reach, she wasn’t getting far.
Christina leaned out, reaching out and managing to get Helena’s shoulder. Which earned a bit of a yelp from Helena in response and a giggle from Christina.
“Got ya, mummy!”
Helping Christina onto Helena, Harley then wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's waist so that she couldn't escape Christina's tickle attack. "Say Uncle!"
Christina squirmed onto Helena and promptly started to tickle her. And of course as Harley held her in place, she was rather stuck between a rock and a hard place. And she started laughing and squirming as Christina started to tickle her. Christina’s own laughter mixed in as she was relentless on her tickle attack.
“Uncle! Uncle!!!” Helena cried between a couple peels of laughter.
“Abort!” Harley caught Christina’s hands. “She’s surrendered. We can now dictate terms. Liiiike.” She eyed Helena. “well my terms have ta wait until you’re in bed but how about you get to open one present early?”
After she caught her breath, Helena wrapped her arms around Christina, holding her. She then eyed Harley, a playful smirk. Then she looked to Christina. “And your terms?”
Christina thought that over for several moments. “I get to stay up a bit later on Christmas Eve!”
“And how much later are we talking?” Helena asked.
“An hour and a half!” Christina announced proudly.
“Well then, I have no choice but to comply with these terms!”
Letting go of Helena, Harley hunted around until she found some wrapping paper and a marker. She pulled out a sheet and set it down, then marked x’s and squiggly lines. “Sign here, and the treaty will be complete!”
Helena set Christina back down on her feet, giving a light grunt considering her daughter was getting heavier as she was growing. But she took the marker and signed beside one of the x’s. “And there.”
Flopping onto her back, Harley let out an exhausted woop. She was getting too old for this stuff. “Truce! Then we can actually, you know, put decorations up.” As though none of this was her fault at all.
Looking down at Harley, Helena chuckled. “Perhaps after a slight respite and having some more hot cocoa?” She suggested as though it would breathe life back into Harley.
Christina didn’t waste time and just bounded over to retrieve her hot chocolate and took a drink of it.
"You had me at hot." She sat up, then leaned against Helena with no desire or inclination to move. "How about we make i mean let Christy put the rest of the decorations up and we can watch her and make sure she does it right."
Helena smiled and slid her arms around Harley. “I believe she’s old enough to do it on her own.” Though Helena would get up and help with decorations going higher up on the tree and so forth. But that didn’t mean she needed to move now. So it was snuggling with Harley.
Christina didn’t mind it in the least. After drinking a bit of her hot chocolate, she leapt right into decorating. She opened a couple of the decoration boxes and started pulling out ornaments and hanging them on the tree.
"Try to spread 'em out," Harley suggested. "But you only really gotta show the good ones on the side facing out. Put the crappy ones on the back and we can pretend they ain't there."
She snuggled into Helena, closing her eyes. “I like this. Ain’t had a real family holidays in ever.”
Christina nodded, making sure to do just that. She spent longer analyzing the ornaments, but it was worth it in the end.
Helena smiled, pressing a kiss to Harley’s head. “I like this, too. And I’m more than happy to share it with you, love.” It was nice to have a nice family atmosphere like this. It was even nicer that it wasn’t just Helena and Christina this year. Well, John had come over to help decorate a bit and unpack last year, but that was different. John was a friend. Harley was her girlfriend. “And this is only the beginning. We’ve got the actual holiday, presents and the Christmas dinner and all to share as well. And then, of course, New Years.”
“Fireworks?” Harley asked, looking at Helena with big eyes. There had to be fireworks on New Years, even if they were just the fireworks of Helena’s lips.
“Definitely fireworks. It’s not properly New Years without them.” She smiled warmly. And, of course, meant her words in more than one way.
“Good.” She settled into Helena’s arms and murmured low enough that Christina couldn’t hear. “You’re gonna earn your ex-mas present, dollface. I got a great big ribbon for it and everything.”
Just hopefully she didn’t tie herself up too well.
Helena smirked, tightening her arms around Harley a bit. “I rather like the sound of this early present,” she murmured back. She had an idea of what that meant, and she was already loving every part of it.
“Merry holidays,” Harley whispered, closing her eyes and nuzzling Helena’s shoulders. If this was what family was like, sign her up. It was definitely going to grow on her.