Cored

Chapter 42: Team Waine

"You need to find a way to get along with him,"Picquery said days later as they stood in her apartment.

"No, I need you to conjure a fireplace," Katherine responded. The room was strewn with Christmas decorations, but she held garland in her hands. "With a big mantle. Underneath the TV, I think."

Picquery sighed, but said, "Wood burning or electric?"

"Wood burning, please."

He did as she asked, creating a large brick fireplace in the wall beneath the television and a stack of logs next to it. Katherine put the garland on top and reached for some stuffed birds with stocking caps to arrange amidst the greenery. Nestor eyed the fake birds suspiciously but remained perched on her shoulder.

"Have you two ever been in the same room without having a knock down, drag out argument?" Picquery continued.

"He starts it," Katherine said. "Besides, you and I have had arguments, too."

"But you and I make up."

"You apologize."

"Well, that might be true," Picquery admitted. "But you still have to figure out some way to coexist. Otherwise, you aren't training, you're just fighting."

"He could try a little harder himself."

"Don't you still have his shoes glued to the ground in the training room?"

"He could try a little harder to unstick them, too," she mumbled

"Katherine..."

"I have yet to see a redeeming quality about Crawley. You say all the time he's a good man. He hasn't been good to me. And you are ruining the Christmas decorating spirit by talking about that Grinch."

The last few days, their training had been slow going. He had started to teach her standard spells, which had her in a worst mood than normal. The incantations were hard to remember, and even harder with the pressure of not looking dumb in front of him. She had even asked Picquery to get her a textbook so she could study in advance. But tonight, she was determined to take a break and make the apartment merry and bright.

"Katherine, there's something I have to tell you—"

"If it isn't who you saw kissing Santa Clause underneath the mistletoe last night, I'm not interested."

"What?" Picquery asked. "Why would I have seen that? And why would I tell you?"

"It's a muggle Christmas song," Katherine explained, wrapping the red cardigan from Molly tighter around herself.

"Well, it's definitely not about Santa and will probably have you running far from mistletoe. It's about next week."

"I'm thinking of moving Christmas," Katherine said. "I mean, Crawley is supposed to be here Christmas Day. So maybe we could just celebrate when you are here on Christmas Eve. We can't do much, but we could watch Christmas movies and drink hot chocolate and I found this recipe for sugar cookies and frosting that I don't think even I could mess up. Though, might not hurt to get store bought frosting..."

"Katherine, Crawley offered to take my shift on Christmas Eve."

Katherine turned on her heels to face him, nearly dropping the stocking in her hand.

"And not just mine. One of Iz's and Grouse's, too, so we can spend the holidays with our families. But if you think it would be too much, I could--"

"No," Katherine said quietly. She swallowed, regaining herself. "Of course. No, you should spend Christmas with your family."

"I could probably come for a little while, give you a break."