Chapter 0040: Jinx, jinx

Seth whined a little more as his mother made all the teens move over from the living room for dinner.

"Better move your butt or you're not getting any dessert" – Kirsten threatened playfully.

"No dessert AND I'm not allowed to delete all the pictures you took? So uncool"

"We are the epitome of cool! You take that back" – Sandy chirped all too gleefully. Luke started having a cough attack from his spot in front of the pack, Lindsay giggled into his fist, and even Ryan's shoulders were shaking ever so slightly.

Traitors, the lot of them.

"What's for dessert?" – Caleb questioned, sitting near one end of the enlarged dining table.

"Blueberry and raspberry cheesecake, and a chocolate cake" – Kirsten paused as she sat at the head of the table closer to the man. Seth frowned minutely as he wondered if she was going to mention that Ryan had been the one to look for the recipes and slave over the kitchen, without accepting anyone's assistance.

"Sounds delicious" – Renee commented, sounding just this side of confused when Kirsten didn't continue talking.

"Oh, I'm sure it is" – the blonde said smoothly, smiling confidently.

"Is everyone ready?! Here comes the turkey!" – Sandy announced, sliding the enormous bird onto the island – "Oh God, can someone help me?" – he yelped at the weight. Luke jumped to help, and soon enough, they managed to get it to Sandy's side of the table – "Thanks, Luke. Now, who wants dark meat and who wants white?" – he asked, smiling widely with a knife in hand.

"Careful with that now, dad, don't want another incident" – Seth cautioned with a snicker.

"Why do I have to keep saying it? It was NOT an incident, it was an ACCIDENT" – Sandy complained with a huff even as he began carving.

"What happened?" – Lindsay chuckled a little and Seth cackled some.

"Dad almost lost a finger or two a couple of years ago on Thanksgiving, and we had to spend the rest of the day drinking crappy coffee and really funky sandwiches at the emergency room while he got stitched up"

"Yeah, that wasn't the best Holiday ever" – Kirsten couldn't help but comment.

"Honey! You're supposed to be on my side~!"

"Sorry, sorry" – Sandy pouted for a moment.

"Maybe I should carve then" – Cal offered with not a hint of sarcasm or smirk, though Seth knew him enough to hear it in his flat tone anyway.

"Don't you dare" – Sandy growled playfully – "I can do this, and I am not going to lose any fingers while doing it, so could everyone stop looking at me like someone should go and start the car to take me to the emergency room?" – he glared at each and every person around the table.

Sure enough, they HAD all been staring at his hands intently; Ryan in particular seemed almost anxious and twitchy at every stab Sandy took at the poo bird.

"Yeah, yeah, daddy–o, just for reals, we wanna eat today, so, while I don't want you to bleed all over the cranberries 'cause, ew, could you hurry it up? Let grandpa do it! He's old, he's had plenty of practice" – Seth could feel his grandfather's heavy look.

"Yes, Sandy, I am ancient, I have millennia of experience with turkey carving all the way from the old country, let me try" – Cal mused coolly.

"Fine, I know when I've been outvoted" – he huffed and allowed for his father–in–law to take over. He sulked a little even as he put some mashed potatoes on his plate – "Can someone hand me the yams, please?"

Caleb quietly did a fair job cutting up the turkey, giving Kirsten and Ryan the first slices, then Seth and the rest of the guests and himself, with an annoyed Sandy having to contend with being the last one served. Nonetheless, it was pretty good, and Seth was weirded out with the realization that although Anna was so far away, he was surrounded by family and friends, and no one was drunk or screaming, and it was really nice.

"Everything is amazing, Kirsten" – Renee complimented softly, smiling kindly.

"Oh, thank you, though I'm afraid it was Sandy who did most of the work"

"I had a little help from the boys before I lost them to the magic of the yamaclauses" – Sandy winked at Lindsay, who blushed a little.

"Are we calling them yamaclauses?" – Seth asked.

"So I have decreed it" – Sandy shot back.

"I guess it's as good as any other plural. I don't know how you managed to come up with them when I never did. And I invented Chrismukkah!"

"You're just not very creative, Seth, sorry" – Lindsay replied.

"Hey now, I happen to be the author of several unpublished comics!"

"And you still didn't invent the most obvious cross between Christmas and Hanukkah" – Luke snickered.

"... Fine, I can't argue with that"

"Are you going to wear them all night?" – Caleb questioned with a slight frown.

"It is Chrismukkah, Cal" – Sandy chided lightly.

"You and Seth are the only Jewish people here" – he paused and looked intently at Renee.

"We're kind of agnostic, if anything" – the elder red head answered the unasked question.

"Cal, everyone is Catholic and Jewish during Chrismukkah" – Sandy raised an eyebrow in defiance.

"Very well"

"Want a yamaclaus now?" – Seth piped up.

"That's still a no" – he glanced briefly at Ryan's golden locks, with a perched yamaclaus on top of them but said nothing.

The rest of the dinner was perfectly friendly on all fronts, from usually sour Cal, to shy Lindsay, to polite Renee, to reticent Ryan, to high spirited Luke, to gleeful Seth, to giddy Sandy all the way to peaceful Kirsten. All in all, it wasn't as bad as Seth thought it could have been. Maybe if the Coopers had come and not gone wherever for the Holidays, or maybe, shiver, if Hailey had remained in town for Chrismukkah–

Anyway.

"This has been very pleasant, however I must be going. I have an early flight tomorrow" – Cal announced, getting up and nodding at everyone – "The presents are all labeled as usual, but, ah... Ryan, I have something for you" – the boy looked up at him in almost alarm, though Seth wondered if he could tell because he was beside him and thus able to see the stiffness of his neck.

"That's really not necessary" – Ryan said with a cool and even voice.

"No, I believe it is. Come along now"

"Dad, wait–"

"Kiki, I believe I have the right to give my own son a Christmas present, do I not?"

"... Of course you do, dad, I just–"

"Then there's no more to say. Come, Ryan, I have a party after this and I can't be late, my driver will be over any moment now" – Ryan reluctantly got up and walked behind him.

"Your driver?" – Sandy mused, following the man even as he absently grabbed the bag of gifts he'd received from the family, with Seth and Kirsten behind him – "I thought you drove here"

Caleb said nothing more as he headed to the main entrance. He opened the door and, with a wide smile that didn't seem natural or possible coming from him, he grandly motioned to the shiny, midnight blue Mustang sitting on the Cohen driveway.

"Holy crap" – Seth couldn't help himself but gasp. Caleb slapped the frozen Ryan in the shoulder, still smiling oddly.

"Dad, this is– This is really too much" – Kirsten said with a forbidding frown. Sandy slid over to be closer to Ryan even as Caleb maneuvered him down the short way to the car.

"Nonsense! Who else can I trust to care for my car other than my son? No offense, Kiki, but you've never cared for my cars, and your sister–" – he cut himself off with a discreet cough – "And of course, Seth told me he thought this car was ugly"

"I was six!" – said teen protested weakly.

"Nevertheless, I figured my son would need a car, and why not something like this?"

"'Cause it's too much?" – Sandy added dryly.

"Spare me, Sanford. So, Ryan, what do you think? Hopefully you've inherited my appreciation for classic cars"

Ryan stood beside the car and Seth was almost glad he couldn't see his face; something told him it was not something he wanted to see from his brother.

"It's– It's great, sir" – he at last managed, his voice firm and agreeable – "Thank you"

"Good! See, Kiki? I don't know what you were so worried about! Maybe we could take a drive sometime when I have the time, what you say?"

"Of course, sir"

"If you need to know how to care for it, I've left my mechanic's card with the registration and such, so give him a call"

"I will. Thank you" – Ryan's voice started to sound a little less friendly and more... Stilted.

"Ah, here's the driver now! Give everyone my best, but I must be off now. Merry Christmas, everyone" – he gave Ryan's shoulder a final squeeze, Kirsten a quick kiss on the cheek, and just like that, Caleb Nichol disappeared into the night. Like a demon or something.

"Sweetie–" – Kirsten attempted softly, reaching out to Ryan.

"Should we get to dessert?" – he interrupted, turning around with a tight smile, his hands in his pockets almost defiantly.

They went inside. Seth turned to take a final look at the car.

It was nice. It was too much, but it was nice.

I've been thinking about Caleb being a dick as usual and giving Ryan a car for a good while now. I had the Cohens kind of bring it up, to Ryan and not, getting him a car and all exactly for this moment. Perhaps it was not a build up, but I hope it was enough to lay the groundwork that, er, Caleb fucked up. Again.

I was gonna go with a convertible, but I didn't think Caleb would be the kind of dude who had a convertible, or at least he wouldn't give it to his son. Nevertheless, I wanted something classic, with nice lines and blue – because hey, I like blue. Fuck it.

Also, it occurred to me that Ryan calling CALEB "sir" is all kinds of weird and wrong, so I guess it makes the situation all the more horrific to think about from his POV =( Ryan is a burden, people keep spending money on him, he doesn't deserve nice things, he shouldn't be happy, etc. The usual self–loathing Ryan carries for the entirety of the show, and the entirety of this story, which the 'Stang is only going to further. Bad move, Caleb. One step forward, a shitload of steps back. The fallout, of course, is inevitable at this point – I wonder if you guys can guess what the 'Stang is going to directly affect, though silently.

PS: So, hum, funny thing, my last day at work was very busy so I forgot to post this, and it's been a sort of haze ever since so, err, here it finally is. I will take a break now, because I have very few chapters written ahead now. So... Yeah.