A Halo Christmas [Halo Universe]

8

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me eight maids a-milking.

A farm. But they don't go to any farm. They went to Annabelle's family's farm. That was saying something because the place was so large, they were able to house Cen'tri'o, T'ane, Retania, her child, Mike, Annabelle, Jun, Elyse, Mike, and Master Chief with a few others and family. It was that big. Annabelle's father, a burly man named Nelson, had mentioned about a 1,000 acres of land that he shared with numerous of smaller homes that were there. They farmed the land as much as he did, just everything that they sold when it came to crops or animals they had to give one-fourth of the profit it Nelson. He was lenient even then, but the money must have been pouring in pretty good because the house he offered for them to stay in was huge.

Annabelle got her own old room in the house that contained her parents, two little sisters, one little brother, an aunt, and then three small dogs. Everyone else that came piled into that house and got their own room. Animals were everywhere and the first day they stayed, Retania's child spent the entire day screaming at every little creature that wandered up nearby. There was plenty. There was even enough room for Annabelle's old childhood Friend, a woman named Susan, so she could stay, but she ended up sharing a room with Elyse.

Every time that Annabelle disappeared, she had crammed herself into the barn, milking the cows and smiling. There were some others who did it too -mostly women- but whenever Jun was looking for her, he would always find her there, milking the cows or petting the bulls.

And each time he would smile.

*******