Ficlet: A Small Display of Holiday Cheer | DCU | Dinah Lance | PG | 1/1
Title: A Small Display of Holiday Cheer
Fandom: DCU
Character: Dinah Lance
Rating: PG
Word Count: 434
Prompt: For merfilly’s fandom_stocking ( here): (no particular prompt)
Summary: Dinah has a startling realization about the passing of the holiday season.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own everything, the schmucks.
Author's Notes: No particular canon here outside Dinah being League Chairwoman. Originally posted here.
A Small Display of Holiday Cheer
As Dinah sorted through her mail, she realized that she’d gotten another Christmas card. On top of the other eleven she’d already received. Well. Wasn’t that a surprise? She hadn’t even bothered to send any out herself this year, with so much going on between home and work and the League. Being Chairwoman had taken up all of her time, and everything concerning the holidays had simply been shunted aside. A glance around her living room found not a single decoration, and … it was just three days until Christmas.
She’d managed to forget the holidays altogether, and she’d seemed to be alone in that sentiment. A spike of guilt filled her for a hot moment, but then she took a deep breath, stomping down on the emotion. They’d understand, surely, even … even Roy, who’d sent a photo card bearing a snapshot of him and Lian, the little girl proudly sitting on Santa’s lap. A Santa that Dinah knew to be a certain Kryptonian in disguise, dressed up for charity and a long stint at a local mall.
Oh hell.
She’d really blown it, hadn’t she?
Shaking her head, she dropped the rest of the mail into its designated pile and grabbed up the rest of the holiday cards she’d received. A quick search through a drawer in the kitchen found a roll of tape, and with a slow twirl, she found a blank spot of wall between the kitchen and living room, where she wouldn’t be able to miss a small display of holiday cheer.
Carefully, she taped each card up on the wall, deciding on the usual diamond pattern with the cards all hanging diagonally, and when she was done, she stepped back to admire her handiwork. There were cards from Roy and Lian, from Ollie, from Connor, from Hal, from Barry and Iris, from Clark and Bruce, from Diana, from the owners of her old shop, even from the League as a whole-who’d taken the initiative and had the time to send out cards?-and from Ted and the JSA. As busy as she’d been, her friends and family hadn’t forgotten her.
No two ways about it; that demanded acknowledgment.
Her wheels spinning, she reached for her smart phone to check through her appointments and obligations for the next three days. As it turned out, most of it was easily rearranged, canceled, or otherwise delayed. Who’d have figured?
Then she tapped a single number into speed-dial. When the deep soothing tones of her second-in-command met her, Martian Manhunter rumbling a greeting, Dinah smiled and said, “J’onn, clear the League’s calendar. We’re having a party.”
~*~*~*~
Fandom: DCU
Character: Dinah Lance
Rating: PG
Word Count: 434
Prompt: For merfilly’s fandom_stocking ( here): (no particular prompt)
Summary: Dinah has a startling realization about the passing of the holiday season.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own everything, the schmucks.
Author's Notes: No particular canon here outside Dinah being League Chairwoman. Originally posted here.
A Small Display of Holiday Cheer
As Dinah sorted through her mail, she realized that she’d gotten another Christmas card. On top of the other eleven she’d already received. Well. Wasn’t that a surprise? She hadn’t even bothered to send any out herself this year, with so much going on between home and work and the League. Being Chairwoman had taken up all of her time, and everything concerning the holidays had simply been shunted aside. A glance around her living room found not a single decoration, and … it was just three days until Christmas.
She’d managed to forget the holidays altogether, and she’d seemed to be alone in that sentiment. A spike of guilt filled her for a hot moment, but then she took a deep breath, stomping down on the emotion. They’d understand, surely, even … even Roy, who’d sent a photo card bearing a snapshot of him and Lian, the little girl proudly sitting on Santa’s lap. A Santa that Dinah knew to be a certain Kryptonian in disguise, dressed up for charity and a long stint at a local mall.
Oh hell.
She’d really blown it, hadn’t she?
Shaking her head, she dropped the rest of the mail into its designated pile and grabbed up the rest of the holiday cards she’d received. A quick search through a drawer in the kitchen found a roll of tape, and with a slow twirl, she found a blank spot of wall between the kitchen and living room, where she wouldn’t be able to miss a small display of holiday cheer.
Carefully, she taped each card up on the wall, deciding on the usual diamond pattern with the cards all hanging diagonally, and when she was done, she stepped back to admire her handiwork. There were cards from Roy and Lian, from Ollie, from Connor, from Hal, from Barry and Iris, from Clark and Bruce, from Diana, from the owners of her old shop, even from the League as a whole-who’d taken the initiative and had the time to send out cards?-and from Ted and the JSA. As busy as she’d been, her friends and family hadn’t forgotten her.
No two ways about it; that demanded acknowledgment.
Her wheels spinning, she reached for her smart phone to check through her appointments and obligations for the next three days. As it turned out, most of it was easily rearranged, canceled, or otherwise delayed. Who’d have figured?
Then she tapped a single number into speed-dial. When the deep soothing tones of her second-in-command met her, Martian Manhunter rumbling a greeting, Dinah smiled and said, “J’onn, clear the League’s calendar. We’re having a party.”
~*~*~*~