A Caffrey Christmas Carol

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This time instead of landing in Arkham again, they were back in June's mansion. The study was still set up from their Round Table discussion, with their notes on the table. Lanterns and candles lit the room.

Diana plopped into her chair. "Pregnant. I did not see that coming."

Lavinia whisked away the wine bottle Diana had been holding, placing it in her satchel. June invited everyone to be seated, and Travis passed around a plate of brownies that looked like the ones Arkham Elizabeth and Peter had baked.

When Henry reached for a brownie, Lavinia pushed his hand away. "You already have yours," she said. He grinned and pulled a brownie from the breast pocket of his pajamas.

"One for the road?" Neal asked.

"You never know when you'll need a snack. Anyway, I wanted a memento from our visit to other worlds, but something perishable isn't exactly going to do the trick for the long term." He took a bite of the brownie.

"Travis, tell them," Lavinia ordered before taking a seat herself.

With a nod to her, Travis said, "Mozzie's unified theory of fiction was close to the mark, but there's a twist he missed. Authors don't visit alternate universes to borrow ideas. They create those universes. Their ideas are the sparks that kick off the big bangs."

Diana put down her brownie and joked, "Are you saying I'm God in the Arkham universe?"

"More like a specially charged particle with enough force to kick things off," Travis said. "Think of it as having a spark that's unique. That's why the visits you were part of could be remembered in that other universe, because you have the storytelling spark that makes scenes memorable." He shrugged. "And Lavinia's wine had an additional kick to make the effects of the spark even stronger."

Mozzie had been staring off in the distance, but he snapped back to join the conversation with, "Reading the same work of fiction is like a shared dream among readers!"

"Yes," said June. "And in the visits, touching a character in the alternate universe was essentially interrupting the narrative. The only interruptions that had any lasting impact were the ones where an authoress was present. Her involvement was akin to making edits to the story, as opposed to simply discussing a story that was already published."

"But I set the direction in the Arkham stories," Diana said.

"Do you?" asked Lavinia. "Or do you reveal what you already know to be true?"

"Sometimes it does feel like the stories tell themselves," Diana admitted. "I know there are certain things the characters would never do, for instance."

"Our Round Table discussions help you discover what the characters are doing," June said. "What they must do."

"What they want or need to do," Henry added. "I've read about the psychology of storytelling, and often authors describe a well-defined character as taking the narrative in a direction that surprises the writer."

"We experienced a crossover," El said. "Characters from one or more different stories interacting."

"A good description," June agreed.

"Exactly," added Mozzie. "I wanted us to experience those other stories to clarify our own direction."

"And do you have clarity?" Lavinia asked. "Peter?"

He looked around the table, seeming to gather his thoughts before answering. "I've wondered sometimes if Neal would get bored working at White Collar, and what that might lead to. I learned that we can continue working together, even if the relationship evolves into something different. Someday I might be a mentor instead of a boss, and that will be okay." He looked at Neal. "What about you? Did you gain any clarity?"