by pebble/scifipony
Fandom: The Librarians
Characters: Flynn Carsen, Cassandra Cillian, Charlene (others in background)
Words: 2,338
Tags: Light Angst, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Christmas, Holiday Decorating
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: Written to take place sometime between seasons two and three. I got the impression from the show that Charlene just disappeared after the Library was restored and the team lost touch with her until 3x02. But, for the sake of this fic, let's pretend she occasionally visited. (Also, I haven't actually seen either of the Christmas episodes yet, so I apologize if this doesn't fit with established canon.)
“…although the first clearly recorded tradition regarding kissing under mistletoe wasn’t until the 18th century in England. Interestingly, the belief that mistletoe holds magical properties may have actually originated with…” Flynn trailed off as he realized that both of the women in the room were giving him that exasperated look which usually meant he’d gone off too far on a tangent again. “What?”
Cassandra shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just that I only asked if you thought the mistletoe looked a little off center?”
“Oh.”
From her seat at the table, where she was attempting to separate various tangled strings of lights, Charlene jumped in, “Don’t mind him. He seriously can’t help himself sometimes.”
“The whole point is to learn about holiday traditions,” Flynn defended himself.
“Uh, guys,” Cassandra waved a hand at them. “The mistletoe?”
“Right.” Flynn took a step back and squinted up at the sprig of green she had hung over the doorway. “Looks good.”
“Are you sure? I thought it might be a little too far to the left.”
It definitely was (by two point seven inches at least, if Flynn had to take a guess) but she’d already been up on that ladder for twenty minutes. He knew Cassandra had been living with her tumor for many years, and that she could probably identify the warning signs when she was about to have one of her dizzy spells. Still, he also knew that — like any Librarian — she had a tendency to push herself well past her acceptable limits.
“Nope, looks great,” he lied, giving her a double thumbs-up for emphasis.
She looked doubtful, but still gave up and descended the ladder. “Hey,” she said as she reached the ground, “What did you mean by the point being to learn holiday traditions?”
Satisfied that he wasn’t going to have to rush any of their young Librarians to the hospital tonight, Flynn turned back to the table, and the box of decorations he was supposed to be sorting. “Well, learn and celebrate them. Jenkins didn’t explain about the Library’s holiday magic?”
Cassandra shook her head. “To be fair, he’s been a bit busy today.”
Which was a bit of an understatement. Eve, Jacob, and Ezekial had been sent out by the book on what was supposed to have been a simple mission. Instead, they’d had to repeatedly call Jenkins about a negotiation with a kallikantzaros that had emerged from the underworld a couple weeks too early — a negotiation that had quickly gone from sour to “uh, I think it just kidnapped Jones”. The caretaker finally gave up playing phone tag and went through the door to sort it all out.
Which is why the three of them were left to handle the holiday decorating by themselves.
“And,” she continued, “I guess, last year there wouldn’t have been much point, since we didn’t actually have the Library to celebrate in.” She snapped her mouth shut abruptly and shot him a worried a glance, as if concerned about treading over a sensitive topic.
Flynn didn’t mind, actually. The pain of loss had lessened considerably now that he had his home back, safe and sound. Not that he’d ever really blamed Cassandra for that loss, anyway — his own encounter with the Book of Solomon years ago had taught him how easy it was to fall to the temptation that magic offered.
“Well, after the destruction of its original home in Alexandria, the Library was moved into a safer place in its own dimension,” he said, sifting carefully through the box’s contents. “But that also means it’s cut off from normal reality. The only thing tying it to our world is the door. That, and the Library staff.”
“And the tether,” Charlene reminded him.
“And the tether,” he agreed. Though he preferred not to think too hard on that right now — or on the fact that, with Judson gone, Charlene was currently the only surviving tether. He cleared his throat and continued, “When we go out in the field and get exposed to magic, we bring that back into the Library with us afterwards. It gets absorbed into the rest of the magic inherent to this place.”
Cassandra perched on a nearby stool to help him with the sorting. “Magical physics,” she said with a grin. “Like osmosis.”
“Hmm,” Flynn hummed in thought. “Osmosis is diffusion. This would be more like an endothermic process.”
“Oh no. There’s two of you now,” Charlene said in mock horror.
Flynn shot her a taunting smile. “Four,” he corrected her.
It was surprising how great it felt to be able to joke about it. He’d long ago accepted the fact that he would always be alone in this job. It was nice to have that fact disproven. Not being alone was actually so much better.
“So, what does that have to do with us hanging lights and wreaths tonight?” Cassandra asked. She grabbed one end of the tinsel strand Flynn was wrestling with. “Here, you hold, I’ll unravel.”
Forcing his hands to be still against their natural tendencies, Flynn tried to refocus on his explanation. “Right. So, we act as sort of liaisons between the Library and the world. We take its knowledge outside and bring parts of humanity back in.”
“Librarians and Guardians are essentially the minds and hearts to the Library’s soul,” Charlene said. “Flynn, you’re moving again.”
Cassandra smiled patiently as she repositioned his hands where she needed them. “Almost done.”
“December is a major time for magic in the world,” Flynn continued. “Christmas, Hanukkah, yule… there are a lot of holidays at this time that hold massive cultural or emotional importance to people.”
“In other words, people get really sappy this time of year,” Cassandra said.
Flynn tilted his head as he considered that summation. “Yes, basically. And that sentiment forms holiday magic that the Library uses to help solidify its connection with the outside world.”
Cassandra finished unwinding the tinsel and finally released him. “So, us getting into the Christmas spirit helps protect the Library?”
“Something like that.”
Cassandra looked thoughtful as she scooped a handful of popcorn out of a nearby bowl to begin stringing it. It was an expression Flynn recognized all too well. He returned to his box of decorations and let her have a moment to wander through her trail of thoughts.
“So, this holiday magic thing is really important to the Library, right?” she asked. “And all of the decorating and celebrating and spreading good will… it’s all tied into that?”
Flynn shrugged. “I mean, yes, but…”
“But it’s also Christmas,” Charlene finished for him. “Of course we’re going to have fun celebrating it.”
“Sorry,” the redhead said awkwardly. “I just meant, since I’m part of the Library now, I guess that means I should help contribute to the holiday spirit, right?”
Flynn didn’t try to hide his puzzled frown as he stared at the girl. He shot a glance over to Charlene for help, but she looked as confused as he felt.
“Um… Cassandra,” he tried, a bit uncertainly, “Do you… not celebrate any December holidays?” At her almost guilty expression, he hastened to add, “Because it’s totally fine if you don’t. We wouldn’t want to pressure you into—”
“No,” Cassandra cut him off quickly. “No! Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just—”
“It really is fine, you know. I probably should have asked before roping you into helping with this.”
“I volunteered,” she reminded him. “And that’s not what I meant.”
“We don’t have to—”
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Charlene huffed, cutting them off. “Watching two Librarians try to communicate has got to be the most painful thing I’ve ever been subjected to. Social skills are apparently not learned in books.” In a bit gentler tone, she said, “Cassandra, take a breath. Tell us when you’re ready.”
Flynn wanted to object to that criticism — he’d been trying to respond sensitively, after all — but the expression on Cassandra’s face kept him from voicing that thought. As Eve was constantly reminding him, sometimes it just wasn’t about him, and this seemed like one of those times.
“My family never really celebrated Christmas,” Cassandra said quietly, as if sharing a secret. “Especially not after we found out about my… well, about me. And then I didn’t think about it too much after leaving home because, well, there wasn’t anyone to celebrate it with.”
“Well, there is now,” Charlene stated decisively. “And this family happens to love holidays.”
Flynn glanced at her in surprise, remembering all the times he’d had to drag her along to Fourth of July fireworks in the park. “We do?”
She promptly elbowed him in the ribs. “Yes, we do.” Pulling up another stool, Charlene took a seat next to Cassandra and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “The Library is alive, you know, in its own way. And it wanted you to be part of this family. You never have to worry about that.”
Cassandra glanced up at them both, unshed tears shimmering in her eyes — which immediately triggered Flynn’s fight or flight response, but he did his best to tamp down on it.
Forcing himself to take a calming breath of his own, Flynn took a seat on her other side. “I didn’t have much family before the Library, either,” he admitted. “It was pretty much just me and my… and my mother.” He felt Charlene’s hand slip across and give his hand a squeeze of reassurance, and he made himself continue, “And even then, I never really felt like I fit in anywhere, either at the house or with my classmates or anywhere else. I never truly understood how it felt to belong somewhere until I came to the Library.”
“The Library does have a tendency to do that,” Charlene said. “It has a talent for finding the people who need it the most.”
“And it’s the best kind of family,” Flynn said, glancing down at the younger Librarian. “Because it’s a family you choose, and one that chooses you.”
“He’s right,” Charlene agreed. “We’re not going anywhere, Cassandra. And you are welcome to celebrate the holidays however you want this year.”
A few of her tears managed to slip free and trail down her cheeks, but she was also smiling now, so Flynn had to assume they weren’t entirely from sadness. “I don’t know what to say,” she said with a nervous sort of laugh underlining her words. “Thank you.”
“That’s good enough,” Charlene assured her. “Now,” she added, pushing herself off her stool, “I still have a few dozen strands of lights to untangle. And you two have about five more boxes to get through.”
Flynn groaned. “I have a feeling the others made up that whole mission as a way of getting out of this.”
Cassandra laughed, this one sounding more genuine. “I wouldn’t put it past Ezekial.”
He went to stand back up, but felt Cassandra reach across and grab his arm.
“Hey, that thing about celebrating however I want…?” she said, still sounding a bit hesitant. “Do you mean that?”
She blinked up at him with an expression that he suspected was intended to guilt him into agreeing. Unfortunately, it was highly effective.
He sighed in defeat, wondering what exactly he was about to get himself into. “Sure. What did you have in mind?”
Face lighting up, Cassandra clapped her hands excitedly. “Yes! Wait right here, I need to go steal— borrow Jenkins’ keys.”
As she raced out of the room, Flynn turned to Charlene with a pleading look. She merely shook her head with a laugh.
“Don’t look at me. Your young protégés have made you soft.”
He had a feeling she was right. Part of him wondered if that fact should bother him more than it did. Mostly, though, he simply wondered if faking a magical disturbance in Australia would be an acceptable means of escape.
~~~~~
The rest of the team trudged exhaustedly through the backdoor late that night, only to stop dead in their tracks at the sight that greeted them.
“What happened?” Eve asked in wonder. “We weren’t gone that long, were we?”
“I thought we agreed on a decorating plan before I left,” Jenkins said, gaze sweeping the Annex in a mix of horror and disbelief.
Ezekial let out a laugh as his eyes trailed over the vast array of lights, garlands, candles, and various other decorations. “Think you might have gone a tad overboard?”
“It looks like Santa’s workshop exploded in here,” Jacob said.
Charlene, seated comfortably on the sofa with a mug of tea, waved a hand at Cassandra and Flynn. “Blame those two. I remained a neutral bystander for most of this.”
Which wasn’t technically true, but Flynn wasn’t going to call her out on it. She had a reputation to maintain after all.
As Cassandra grabbed the boys by their arms and began dragging them around for a tour of her holiday wonderland, Eve slid over beside Flynn. She slipped her hand into his with an amused smile. “Have fun while we were gone?”
Flynn shook his head, still wondering how he’d gotten involved in this at all. “You would not believe how long it took to carry all this stuff in from the car,” he murmured, wrapping one arm around her shoulders.
“Do I want to know what prompted all of this?”
“I promise there was a good reason.”
“It’s okay,” she said. She nodded over to where Cassandra was proudly showing off a candelabra that she had applied a decent amount of glitter to. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile that much. Frankly, I don’t care if you had to raid the North Pole to do it.” Eve planted a quick kiss on his cheek. “It was worth it.”
Flynn let his gaze wander over the crazily decorated room, and the little family gathered inside it, and felt a warmth he hadn’t experienced in a long time. Yeah, he had to admit, this definitely was worth it.