Missing Moments

Finn and Piper Go Christmas Shopping

A few days before the Christmas Special

"It doesn't work like that."

"What do you mean?"

Finn frowned at Piper as they walked through the mall together. They were searching for Secret Santa gifts for A-Troupe's upcoming Christmas party. Or at least, Piper was.

"You can't be Santa in the Secret Santa. There is no Santa. You just buy a gift for whoever you drew a name for," Piper explained patiently, her eyes scanning the stores they passed in search of her favorite candle shop, Wicks Corner.

"First of all, there has to be a Santa in the Secret Santa. Who else would deliver the gifts?" Finn chose to ignore the way Piper rolled her eyes at that and continued on unperturbed. "And second of all, I did draw Santa, so I'm Santa."

"But there's not a Santa," Piper repeated adamantly.

Reaching into his pocket, Finn pulled out the slip of paper he'd drawn the day before that clearly read Santa. He held it out to Piper proudly, raising his eyebrows as if to say, "See?" She glanced at it and huffed, grumbling about how Kingston never should have been put in charge of the Secret Santa drawing. Finn grinned cheekily at her, but she hardly noticed it as she spotted the candle store and pivoted towards it.

As they entered the store, they were bombarded by smells of pine needles and cinnamon that were undoubtedly from the seasonal Christmas candles. Finn wrinkled his nose at the strong fragrances and asked, "Who are you shopping for again?"

"Summer," Piper answered, gazing around at the shelves covered in candles with an excited glint in her eye. "She was saying the other day she wanted a Christmas candle for her room."

"Oh, well that should be easy to find," Finn said confidently. It would be easy to find a seasonal candle this time of year. They would be moving on to the food court in no time.

What Finn had failed to anticipate, however, was the absurd number of seasonal candles there actually were to choose from and Piper's incessant need to sniff every single one.

Why were there so many candles to choose from? Who could possibly need that many options?

Finn didn't know how Piper was going to find a Christmas candle that personified Summer- whatever that even meant- but he did know that he really didn't like candle shopping as much as he'd thought he would. What should have taken a few minutes was turning into a half hour debate about whether Summer would like Winter Cranberry or Crushed Candy Cane more.

"What do you think about this one?" Piper asked, holding up a white candle with a label that read Christmas Cookies for Finn to sniff.

He complied, the sweet smell of cookies filling his nose. Somehow, it did seem to remind him of Summer- probably because it was so sweet-smelling, and Summer was one of the sweetest people he knew.

"It's fine, I guess," he told Piper, handing it back to her while wondering to himself what Rocking Chair was supposed to smell like.

Piper sniffed the candle again then nodded to herself, seeming to come to a decision. "I think this is the one. It just screams Summer to me."

Finn mumbled in agreement as he picked up Whiskers on Kittens and gave it a sniff. Wrinkling his nose, he recoiled and quickly set it back on the shelf.

He checked his text messages while he waited for Piper to pay for the candle. The Bros' group chat was blowing up over the avocado Ozzy had gotten for Richelle's Secret Santa gift, but Finn's attention was caught instead by the text from his older brother Nate, who rarely texted him.