Chapter 7

NISHA

Elise slept like the dead while I read quietly next to her. Once I was tired, I put my phone down and pulled her to me. She snuggled up to me with a soft sigh and at that moment, I knew we had something very special.

The next morning, I was awakened by the smell of hot coffee. I hadn't shown her the kitchen, but she figured it all out and brought me the results of her exploration. We drank our coffee while leaning up against the headboard and talked about insignificant little things. Once she finished her coffee, she placed the mug on the floor and turned to me.

"Honey, last night was the wildest thing that's ever happened to me. It will be weeks before I recover," she giggled. "And I owe you one."

"You don't 'owe' anyone anything. It was a gift to show you how important you've become to me. And don't you ever say you don't deserve me or you're not smart enough. You're mine. Got that?"

"I do. As a matter of fact, I'm not too sure I can spend the next year and a half living so far from you."

"We'll make it work. I promise."

We did have a little fun in the sack before Elise had to drive back home, and though it was nothing like the night before, I have to say she left one satisfied gal behind her as she drove down the street.

We continued our texting and calling routine as before, but it was getting harder to hang up each evening. Two weeks later, after I finished a writing assignment and took an exam, I realized I had a light weekend ahead of me. I planned to sit down Friday evening and do a little studying so that the rest of the weekend would be free for me to drive home and visit Elise. I was about ready to text her and make arrangements when I got a call from her.

"Hey, Nisha, how's school?"

"Good. I'm going to do some light studying so I can come down tomorrow."

"Glad to hear it. Uh, say, have you checked your front door lately?"

"My front door? Did you send me something?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Let me go check."

When I opened the door, there Elise was! I squealed with delight and wrapped my arms around her.

"What are you doing here?"

"Had to see you and share the good news."

"Good news?"

"Yeah. I have a new job, well, honestly I have two new jobs. The first one is a nice gig with a medium-sized construction firm. I can work at my own pace and take breaks just as long as the job gets done on time."

"That sounds great. Uh, what's the other one?"

"Well, it turns out that a highly respected college wanted to have an electrician 'on call' to help out with any repairs and to do trouble-shooting. I'll get a base 'on call' salary no matter what and I get an hourly pay for when I'm actually doing any work. The sweet thing is that it won't interfere with my commercial job."

"That's, uh, that's really good. But what college is it?" I asked anxiously.

"Nice one, kinda funny name. Starts with a 'P'. Uh, Pufferman, no, uh, it's Paffington. Yeah. That's it."

"You, you little…you have a job here?"

"Two jobs," answered Elise. "And I'm moving here after I've given my two weeks-notice at home."

I grabbed and squeezed her with all my might, I was so happy. Suzette popped her head out from her room to see what all the commotion was about.

"Elise is moving here! She's got work here and we won't need to do the long weekend traveling. Isn't that great?"

Suzette said she was happy for me, but I could tell there was something on her mind.

"What is it, Suze? Problem?"

"Well, yeah. What's going to happen to us, you and me?"

"Nothing. I mean, we'll still be roomies and…"

"You and Elise won't be moving in together?"

"Well, we haven't even talked about it, but I'm sure we'll figure something out."

"Suzette," jumped in Elise, "I don't want to do anything that will ruin your situation with Nisha. I can get a place on my own here in town or something."

"But then Nisha will be spending all her time at your place and that's such a waste of rent money."

"How about I move in here? I would gladly kick in a third of the rent and common expenses. We'll share the one bedroom and you keep yours. Would save both of you and me some money."

Suzette looked at us and laughed, "Does that mean I'll have to listen to you two every night?"

I looked at her and responded with a straight face, "No, of course not. No more than six nights a week, I promise."

"You could have your boyfriend, or," Elise said with a wink of her eye, "Your girlfriend stay more often, too."

"What makes you think I'd get a girlfriend?" asked Suzette.

"Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!" I laughed back at her.

—–

Things settled down quickly after Elise moved in and fortunately, she and Suzette got along great. We shared in the cleaning and cooking and having costs split three ways helped the budget. Elise's calls to the college were usually for straightforward issues and because she was so attractive, she didn't face any hostility or teasing from the students. Her main job provided her with a good income which she was putting into savings.

I asked her about the court-ordered volunteer hours and it turned out that when she moved, she went to the court to get permission to perform them near Paffington. Elise ended up with a different judge who about pulled out his hair when he heard the whole story. He immediately relieved her of any further requirements and cleared her record.

We did make a trip to visit her parents and I wish I could say it went as well as when I came out to my parents. Her folks weren't hostile, but they seemed even more disappointed that their 'uneducated' daughter was now a lesbian. They were cool but polite with me, though I did receive a gentle hug from her mother, who whispered 'I wish you the best' when we got ready to leave.

—–

ELISE

Life settled down nicely once I moved in. I did everything possible to help out around the apartment and to let the 'girls' study without interruption. When exams were on the horizon, I would make myself scarce by going for hikes or hanging out in the library. Imagine that: Me in a library!

It was in late spring when Nisha came to me for a 'talk.'

"Honey, we need to plan for us, for this summer."

"Sure. What's up?"

"Normally, I go home for the summer, but since you're living and working here, I don't want to leave."

"What about Suzette?"

"I haven't mentioned anything to her about this, but I wanted to tell you what I've been thinking. Maybe I should stay here and do summer school. If I really push it, I could potentially finish my degree in December, six months early."

"So, we could stay here in this apartment?"

"Sure, unless you wanted to find a new place."

"What are your plans after you graduate?"

"Remember when my dad mentioned that a gay woman counselor might not be appreciated by some parents? Well, I've been thinking maybe I should switch my emphasis from young kids to teens. Maybe I could specialize in helping teens with gender issues, you know, things like that."

"Can you do that right out of college?"

"No, but there's a clinic right here that's willing to let me intern there and get my feet wet. If I do well and I like it, they would hire me, at least for a part-time position."

I told Nisha this was a great idea. It would keep us together in the city while she finished college and my job would be secure.

"I'd feel a little bad about Suzette, though. She'd end up without a roomie after I graduate," said Nisha.

"Then we stay right where we are until she does."

"Really? You'd do that for her?"

"Sure. She's a good gal and all of us get along great."

"I get it," she said with a giggle, "You've got the hots for her," Nisha laughed.

"I do not and just for that, I'm taking you back into the bedroom and you better remember our safe word 'cause I think you're going to be needing it."

"Eek. Oh, save me, save me…" The rest of her cries were muffled by my lips covering hers. Turns out she needed to cry 'elf' at least twice, but she never complained after she collapsed onto the mattress over an hour later.

—–

NISHA

The rest of my time at Paffington was a breeze. Suzette was glad to stay in the apartment until she graduated the following June but I was able to finish my classwork at the end of summer and do remote work and intern counseling for the fall semester. Elise was doing great in her jobs and both offered her a substantial raise to keep her from leaving. I liked the city and we agreed to set down roots here.

My parents weren't too terribly happy that we'd be over two hours away by car but we promised to visit often and encouraged them to consider moving closer once they retired.

Christmas and graduation loomed. The graduation ceremony was a small, quiet affair as most students finish after the spring semester. My parents were in attendance sitting next to Elise and from the stage where I was, it seemed like they were getting along great. We had asked Elise's parent to come but they declined. This saddened me not because I was close to them but because it looked like they were rejecting Elise. My parents partly made up for it by having us out to dinner at a super exclusive restaurant where nobody even batted an eye when Elise and I kissed after we were toasted by Maa and Dad.

We decided to travel back home and stay with them for the holidays. It was fun being back there and when I ran into a few old friends, I proudly introduced them to Elise, 'my life partner.' There may have been a few pauses in the conversations, but everyone was friendly to Elise and she, and we, were accepted by all.

Three days before Christmas, I was cleaning up in my old bedroom, now the guestroom, when Elise came up behind me, wrapped one arm around my waist and put something on my head. Glancing in the mirror, I saw she had placed her old elf hat on my head.

"You're crazy," I laughed. "Why did you bring this with you?"

"Because you and I are going to Mercy and volunteering one last time. Carter knows and will be our Santa."

"Honey, are you nuts? Why would we do that?"

"It's been a year since we met and I think we need to celebrate and do the same thing all over again," Elise pronounced.

"OK, if you insist. Let me see if my old costume is here."

Once we both got dressed, we stood in front of the mirror. Elise, as always, was beautiful with her blonde hair tied up in pigtails under her elf hat and her lovely curves straining the seams of her costume. Me, well, I was still too tall and too dark and too skinny to be a real elf. She must have seen the look on my face because she grabbed my hand and sat me in the chair.

"You are beautiful. You are exotic. You are sexy. You are all I want in life and if some kid like that Dustin pulls any racist shit on you, I'll whack him with a stocking full of coal."

She made me feel so much better that I began to cry. I loved her and she loved me and it was all that mattered. We hugged and we cried until we giggled and laughed. Then we headed out to meet Carter.

Carter was all smiles when he saw us. We caught up with us telling him about me graduating and, surprise, with him telling us about having a nice lady in his life.

"It's still early, but I think it might last. She desperately wants children and I know I want some too. They could never replace my daughter, but it's time to move on. I'll still do the Santa thing in her memory, though."

"Oh, Carter, that's such good news. Good luck to you and her."

"What about you two?" he asked.

"Oh, we're taking it one day at a time," said Elise, somewhat vaguely.

We rounded on the oncology ward. It was sad to hear that little Taylor had indeed died months before, but fortunately, all of the kids we were slated to visit were doing pretty well. Santa was a great hit and we did our elf routine much like we had the year before. Once we finished, I headed toward the nurses' lounge when Elise held me back.

"Uh, wait a second, Hon, there's someone in the conference room we need to see."

"Did we miss someone?"

"I, uh, yeah, we did."

I followed her and Carter down the surprisingly quiet hallway. I glanced in a few rooms and where there had been kids only minutes before, the rooms were empty. We rounded the end of the hall and went into the conference room where nearly all the nurses, kids and their families were crowded. Even Maa, Dad and Elise's parents were over in one corner.

"Wha…?" I asked, confused as to what was going on.

"Elf Nikka, love of my life," I heard behind me before I turned to see Elise kneeling, holding out a diamond solitaire, "The winters are cold at the North Pole and I want to cuddle up with you to keep warm. Santa has given his blessings, so I want to ask, will you make me the happiest elf ever and marry me?"

Tears suddenly flowed down my cheeks as I nodded mutely to the love of my life. Finally, I was able to croak out, "Yes, Elf Elsa, I will marry you," to the cheers and clapping of the nurses, kids and our parents.

After she slipped the ring on me, I pulled her up into a big hug, leaned down and chuckled, "You are sooo going to pay for this, making a proposal in front of all these people. You're darn lucky I said 'yes'."

"But you did. I knew you would," Elise laughed.

"OK, so I did," I said before I dropped my lips to her ear and whispered, "But I promise you'll be needing the 'elf' word a lot tonight!"

—–

Trionyx — Christmas 2025

Votes and comments are appreciated. Thank you.

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Santa's Elf is another story involving hospitals, volunteer elves and Santa.