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"Pull!"
"I'm pulling! You push."
"Not too fast, you'll tear off the branches. I told you this tree was too big for this elevator. We should've gotten the smaller one."
"My dear Cait, Remington Steele goes first class or he doesn't go at all!" the dapper detective informed his companion. "I did try to find the building superintendent so we could use the freight elevator, but he must be gone for the holiday. Besides, you're the one who said I needed a tree."
"I didn't tell you to ... ooof ... buy the biggest tree on the lot!" Caitlin O'Connor pointed out.
"This was the only one left that had any ... umph ... character," he protested, hefting the heavy bottom of the tree. "And when I bought it, I assumed we could have it delivered."
"On Christmas Eve?" Cait scoffed. "Fat chance."
"Don't say fat to this tree. It might take it as a stage direction." He paused, looking over the object of their struggle at the exasperated face of his sister just as the elevator started making a grating, beeping noise. "Oh wonderful, the doors want to close."
"Don't worry, I have my foot against this side," Cait replied. "Just hurry and get this thing out." She threaded her hands through to the trunk to get a better hold and a stray branch swiped her in the mouth. "Ouch!"
"Is something wrong, Luv?" Steele asked a bit too glibly.
Cait gritted her teeth. "Just pull the tree, Rem!"
"All right." He took a firm hold. "On the count of three." Cait nodded. "One. Two. Three!"
With one mighty tug, the eight-foot scotch pine made its exit from the small passenger elevator with such suddeness that it took both Remington and Caitlin by surprise. Steele disappeared under the unanticipated avalanche of evergreen as Cait, hands still firmly attached to the trunk of the tree, was yanked off her feet to land unceremoniously upon a bed of pine needles. The elevator, finally freed of its burden, had the last word with a soft thud as the doors closed.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Cait exclaimed as she lifted herself from the inert tree. She took a deep breath as she pulled stray needles from her skin and hair. All at once, she froze in mid pluck, her eyes darting from side to side across the hallway, then growing wide with realization as she peered down though the forest of limbs and branches.
"Remington?" A distressed grunt was the only reply. "Rem?" she called again with concern as she began weaving her hands between the branches, working her way toward the floor. "Rem, are you all right?" At that moment she pushed aside the last branch and was staring into her brother's face.
"No," was the only reply he offered as he spit pine needles out from his mouth. "Isn't it customary to shout 'timber' just before a tree falls?"
"Very funny," she replied, releasing the branches which promptly smacked into Steele's face.
"Cait!"
It took another half an hour to extricate Remington from beneath the tree and finally get it into his apartment and standing in the lengthily negotiated perfect spot. As if on cue, both siblings collapsed back onto the sofa and appraised their work. After a moment, Cait smiled. "You're right, Rem, it is a beautiful tree."
Steele glanced at the serene look on his sister's face, and leaning back against the sofa, closed his eyes and smiled in satisfaction. He was glad he was spending this holiday with Cait. As much as he missed Laura, who was spending Christmas with her mother, her sister and Frances and her family, it was a wonderful new experience sharing this "family" holiday with his new-found sister. It was the first time in his life he had ever had any family with whom to celebrate. He hadn't even known Cait existed just a few months ago. Strange how it felt like he'd known her all his life. From the first moment they met, he had begun to feel a bond with her, a closeness he had never dreamed he could feel so quickly. Sometimes he even seemed to instinctively know what she was thinking. And yet, there were so many new things about his sister he was learning every moment he was with her. She had awakened in him a strong protective streak and a desire to see that she was happy. He wondered if that was the way all older brothers felt about their sisters.
"Yes," he whispered, not really seeing the tree, "It is beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yes. It'll be wonderful when we get it decorated."
"Decorated?" Steele asked with trepidation. "That means we have to go back downstairs for the ornaments and lights. They're in the Auburn."
"I suppose that means we have to get up," Cait grimaced.
"I don't see any alternative."
Cait sighed deeply and pushed herself off the seat. "Okay, let's do it."
Remington looked up at her with puppy dog eyes and sounding for all the world like a four-year-old, pleaded, "Just five more minutes?"
"Now, Rem."
"Oh, all right," he replied, reaching his hand up to her. "Give us a tug, Luv?"
Shaking her head in disgust, Cait pulled him to his feet, refusing to release his hand as she dragged him toward the door. Several minutes later two walking piles of boxes and sacks returned, both dumping their burdens in the middle of the floor. Steele surveyed the pile. "Where do we start?"
"With the lights," Cait instructed. "Haven't you ever decorated a tree before?"
"No," he replied, the most infinitesimal touch of sadness shading the tone of his voice and causing Cait to turn toward him.
"To tell the truth," she admitted, "neither have I. I watched the people who put the tree up in my office a couple of weeks ago."
"So, what we have here are two rank amateurs."
"No," Cait corrected. "What we have here are two highly creative, artistically minded people presented with a challenge. Do you think we're up to it, Mr. Steele?"
As he turned to her, one eyebrow rose sharply upward. "Ms. O'Connor, I can't imagine anything that's beyond our talents." With a laugh, they dived for the boxes.
The camera pulled back to reveal the panorama of the old converted mill filled with soldiers and their families joining Bing Crosby and company in the final strains of "White Christmas" just before the screen faded to black. Steele touched the remote control to turn the set off, leaving the blinking lights of the Christmas tree and the fire in the fireplace as the only sources of light in his apartment. As he glanced at the young woman sitting next to him on the floor, he noticed the glistening of those lights reflected in the dampness in her bright blue eyes.
"Hey," he said softly, reaching his arm around her shoulders. "Are you all right, Luv?"
She turned to him and smiled as one large tear rolled down her cheek. I guess I'm just a sentimental fool," she replied.
"See here, Caitlin O'Connor," he returned in mock indignation, "no one is going to call my sister a fool, sentimental or otherwise."
She laughed and turned her face against his shoulder. He gathered her in a warm embrace, kissing the top of her head as he held her. Gazing at the decorated tree, he smiled at the memory of the two of them arguing over the placement of each and every ornament that adorned the heavily laden pine. After balancing on the top of a chair with Cait holding his belt to keep him from falling into the evergreen just to place the lace and satin angel on the top branch, they had turned out the room lights, stood back and admired their handiwork. For all the bother, he wouldn't part with a moment of it.
They had celebrated their accomplishment with champagne and popcorn, realizing it was well past the time of their dinner reservation Steele had planned for at a very exclusive restaurant. But they found they didn't really mind. They had settled on the floor, leaning against the sofa, with a roaring fire, and watched the movie which they both loved and admitted having seen dozens of times. Yet, sharing the experience made it seem brand new.
"I had hoped to show you a jolly time this Christmas, not make you cry," he told her wryly.
Cait looked up at him earnestly. "Oh, Rem, this is the best Christmas I've ever had. I'm just sorry you didn't get to spend it with Laura."
"Don't worry about Laura," he replied. "We have quite a New Year's Eve planned." He quirked his mouth into a lopsided smile. "Besides, Christmas is a time to be with one's family, and I'm glad to have the chance to spend it with you, little sister." He punctuated his last words with a hug.
"I guess neither one of us has ever known what it was like to have a family, much less have a family Christmas," Cait said thoughtfully. "Most people have lots of traditional things they always do together and lots of beautiful memories to share. We don't have any of those. We didn't even know each other last year at this time. Compared to normal families, we're hardly more than strangers."
"What is normal?" he asked. "Really, Cait, I'm not sure such a creature exits, and if it does, I certainly don't want to be a part of anything considered 'normal'. No, you and I, we're not normal by any stretch of the imagination. We're special, and I happen to enjoy that status!"
Cait offered him a serious expression. "I'm tired of being 'special'. I think I'm ready for a little normal in my life."
He brushed her hair back over her shoulder and shrugged. "I guess a little normal couldn't hurt me," he conceded, "so long as it isn't boring."
Cait laughed. "Remington, I don't think you could possibly do anything that could remotely be associated with the word 'boring'."
"Right you are, Luv." He turned to gaze at the tree. "So what do you say? This is the beginning of our traditional Christmas. We're establishing it right here tonight. When people ask you how your family spends Christmas Eve, you can tell them we start by trimming a very large tree."
"And watch 'White Christmas' by the firelight..."
"And eat popcorn..."
"And drink champagne."
"Imported champagne," Steele corrected.
Cait chuckled as she snuggled against her brother's side. She looked up once more at their Christmas tree. "Thank you, Rem," she whispered. "For the first time in my life, I feel I belong somewhere... to someone. Merry Christmas, Rem."
He gave her a squeeze as his eyes also lingered on the twinkling tree and he realized he, too, had never felt such a sense of belonging. "Merry Christmas to you, angel. This Christmas we've both come home."