Chapter Text
When she saw an email from the department office announcing the return of the annual Secret Santa draw, Olive got excited! She loved the idea. She'd heard of it before she even joined the latest Stanford University cohort, and now... now that she was here, she could participate in the event.
After all, she only had two people to get gifts for. She was of course planning to give some little trinkets to her labmates and Dr Aslan as well, but it just wasn't the same. She only really had Malcolm and Anh, her new friends, to prepare actual Christmas presents for.
She was sure nobody else was this excited to sign up for the draw, but she didn't care. She opened the sign up form straight away, laughing at herself realising that she was likely about to become the first entry on the list of participants.
She filled in her name and the got to the section where she was asked to give hints for her Santa. She was always proud to say she was a good gift giver, however, she always struggled to say what she wanted.
She sighed and decided to keep it simple. She asked for colourful knee socks and chocolates. The department asked for presents to be worth about $25, which seemed fair. Socks were not expensive and the Santa could then easily add the right amount of chocolate to reach the price point. Yes, that was the way, she thought as she hit 'send'. Socks came in all colours and prints, and there were endless brands of chocolate, so she was still in for a surprise. It was going to be amazing!
"Have you signed up for the Secret Santa thing?" Malcolm asked when he joined Olive and Anh in a break room.
"Nah, it's a waste of time and money" Anh said with contempt.
"Yeah, I have too many people to buy gifts for as it is" he agreed and sat next to Olive.
"I've signed up" Olive admitted quietly.
"You have?" both of her friends asked in unison.
Olive could feel her excitement about the upcoming draw evaporate. Suddenly she felt stupid for looking forward to it.
"Yeah, I thought it would be fun" she explained.
"But you'll be wasting money on a stranger" Anh reasoned. "Or worse, someone you know but don't like."
"Yeah, imagine having to buy something for that asshole from Dr Moss' lab. Or for the Dean!"
"Or Carlsen" Anh joined in with a chuckle.
"Oh, god, can you imagine? What do you even buy for the devil himself?" Malcolm asked rhetorically.
Olive was yet to interact with the infamous professor. She'd seen him around the campus, She'd heard stories- not a single one positive. She'd seen the fear in his grads' eyes. But She'd never even spoken to him, so she didn't find it appropriate to join in on the joke. What if she really ended up buying a gift for him? She couldn't just slander him now.
"I don't think he'll even participate, to be honest" Anh backtracked, seeing Olive's bemused expression. "He doesn't look like the type" she added.
"Right, well, anyway, I don't see the point in wasting money on a random person. The department is massive. The odds of getting someone you actually know and like are slim. Also, some stranger will be buying stuff for you too" Malcolm reasoned, completely unaware of Olive's upset.
"You can tell them what you want to receive" Olive said with what she hoped was a nonchalant shrug.
She wanted to move away from this conversation. It was her first Christmas at Stanford. She finally found her people, she was finally going to have her first fun Christmas after years of sad, lonely ones. She wanted to simply enjoy it, and this conversation made it impossible.
She could see the movement in the room. People came and went while Olive was sat there trying to figure out a way to change the topic.
"Right. Well, that's something, I guess. I just don't get the appeal, Ol" Malcolm pressed.
That was it. She knew that the only way to make them consider the matter closed was by making them understand where she was coming from.
"Well... I just don't really have people to exchange gifts with" she admitted. She tried, she really tried to try and reamin calm, but her eyes decided to get glossy despite her inner warnings not to.
She blinked rapidly, feeling pathetic. What adult was this pressed about Christmas presents? It was stupid, she thought, when both Anh and Malcolm jumped to embraced her.
"I'm sorry, Kalamata, that was insensitive of us" Malcolm murmured. "We will shower you with gifts" he promised.
"Don't be silly" she scolded him with a wet laugh. Despite her best efforts she just couldn't stop the tears. It was as if that one admission had opened something in her. Something locked in for years.
She missed her mom. She missed the warmth she'd provided. The way even simple, quiet Christmas had felt special. She missed the simple feeling of being cared for.
Anh and Malcolm rubbed Olive's back and tried their best to make her smile again, but it was futile. Olive clearly just needed a good cry.
When she looked over her friends' shoulders to see how much commotion her crying had caused she noticed a pair of dark eyes piercing her with its gaze. Dr Carlsen was stood near the vending machine, evidently actively listening to Olive's conversation with her friends. Had he heard their jokes about him? She thought horrified.
But when she took his face in, she realised that he wasn't furious. Instead, she saw that his whole demeanour displayed nothing but pure sympathy. He was frowning, but it wasn't his usual, angry frown. He was... sorry for her.
Great, that was exactly what she needed- to have the scary professor feel bad for her.
"Thanks guys, I think I'm okay now" she said to make herself look at least slightly less pathetic.
She glanced back up to check that Dr Carlsen saw how well composed she was, but when her gaze landed on the vending machine the man was nowhere to be found.
Despite her friends' not so warm reaction to the Secret Santa exchange, Olive decided to try and stay positive about it.
When she received an email with her giftee's details, she inhaled deeply. It was it. It was time to go shopping and hopefully make someone's Christmas a little bit more magical, she thought with a wide smile.
She was getting a gift for Ophelia, one of Dr Rodrigues' grads. Olive had chatted with her a few times. She seemed nice, which made Olive even happier. She was getting something for a seemingly lovely person. How could anyone hate anything about this? She thought and her mind drifted to the man in the room next to hers. Of course Malcolm was still unimpressed by the whole ordeal, but at least became less vocal about it.
Olive had to admit, she understood his concerns. She'd overheard him tell Anh how he was worried that Olive would end up disappointed with her gift after pouring her heart into making some other stranger happy.
Was it possible? Of course! But it was something she was willing to risk. She loved giving presents as much as receiving them. If not more. So she wasn't too concerned. Even if she ended up receiving awful chocolate with raisins, she'd still be happy with the experience... she hoped.
She spent the rest of the week researching the possible gift options for Ophelia. The girl had mentioned rom com books and listed her favourite authors. Olive's browser history was full of entries like 'books similar to..." and "books for fans of...".
She knew she probably overdid it, but she didn't care. She decided to go for a couple of options, just to be safe. She hated how expensive books were, she thought when she swiped the card at the local bookshop. She was already over the budget, though she was nowhere near considering it done! She found a cute bookmark, chocolate and a small set of fruity tea. She hoped that the tea would make Ophelia's reading experience lovely, even if the books turned out not to be her... cup of tea.
Malcolm rolled his eyes when he watched Olive carefully wrap every single item and then tie all the little parcels with a gold ribbon. She also added a candy cane and a Christmas card in for good measure.
"You know that gift bags exist, right?" He asked with a smirk. "You just throw all the items in and cover it all with tissue paper."
"Is that the low standard I should expect to find under our tree?" She asked and smiled at his suddenly flustered expression.
Their 'Christmas tree' was a tiny thrifted fake tree decorated with the cheapest ornaments they could find. Olive added a few sentimental baubles she'd kept throughout the years, ones that she'd bought with her mother. Despite the tree not looking impressive, Olive absolutely loved it.
"I... well, I don't know, depends on how easy your presents will be to wrap" he finally admitted making Olive laugh. She loved him so much already.
It's tiiiiime, she thought in a Mariah Carey voice as she knocked on Dr Rodrigues' office door with a massive grin on her face. He was the head of social-and-networking committee, so he was the one handing out the Secret Santa presents.
"Hello Dr Rodrigues" she said when she was told to enter. "I'm here to collect my Secret Santa gift, but I can come back later, if you're busy" she offered quickly.
The room looked like Santa's HQ. Wrapped boxes and gift bags were everywhere. There were even small presents on Dr Rodrigues' desk. The man had barely any room to walk around in this chaos, but he didn't seem to mind one bit. He had a green elf hat on and a massive grin on his face.
"Oh, not at all, let's get you your gift" he said excitedly. "Olive, Olive... oh... yes of course" he murmured to himself and headed straight for a gift bag hidden in the corner of the room.
He seemed to know exactly what he was doing which was really odd. There were dozens upon dozens of presents here. How could he know which one to head for without checking any spreadsheet? That's some true Elf level of efficiency, she thought with a smile.
When he turned around with Olive's gift, she realised that there was a good reason why Dr Rodrigues remembered which present to look for. It was massive. There was no way this whole thing was just for her she thought.
"There must be some mistake" she said with a nervous chuckle when she noticed many individually wrapped items inside the bag. Dr Rodrigues glanced at her, at the tag, at her again.
"Nope, no mistake, Olive Smith" he said pointing at her "Olive Smith" he repeated, this time pointing at the tag.
"Are you sure that it's not just one of those parcels that is for me? Maybe there was a mix up and someone put all those presents in a big bag to make them easier to carry?" she argued again.
"Trust me, Olive, this whole bag is yours" he repeated.
"We were supposed to spend $25! There is no way it all costed $25! Not in this economy!"
"Well, Some people just have no respect for the rules of this gift exchange" Dr Rodrigues murmured, more to himself than to her. There was something in his voice that made her believe that the resentment for the alleged disrespect for the Secret Santa draw ran deeper than she could comprehend. "But-" he added, returning to his usual cheerful self "- that's just even better for you. Take the lot and have a wonderful Christmas" he said with a big smile.
Olive took the big and heavy parcel with her, realising that she had no other choice but to accept it. She decided to examine each parcel individually at home. Maybe there were name tags on them, anything that could potentially help her reunite the misplaced gifts with their rightful owners.
"Merry Christmas Dr Rodrigues" she said cheerfully, despite her confusion.
"Merry Christmas Olive. Have a wonderful break!"
She was sat on the floor of her and Malcolm’s tiny living room, utterly confused. All the items in her Secret Santa bags were neatly wrapped in the same thick red tartan wrapping paper. There was not a single name tag on either of the items. There were also no rips or any other signs of potentially missing tags. All the little parcels seemed to be in the pristine condition, as if they were really supposed to be stored together in that big bag addressed to Olive.
"What the hell?" She heard Malcolm from the doorway.
She was so focused on the presents that she completely missed the sound of the front door opening.
"Where did all that come from?" he asked when Olive remained quiet.
"Secret Santa" she explained quietly.
"How is that even possible?" he questioned.
"I don't know" she admitted quietly.
Malcolm sat next to her and weighed each parcel in his hand. "That's bizarre, Ol."
"I know" she nodded.
She was too stunned herself to put together a longer sentence. Malcolm luckily didn't seem to mind.
"Well I take back what I said about Secret Santa. I'm definitely signing up next year" he said with a smirk. "Open them" he advised.
"No, it's not Christmas yet" she argued.
It was very tempting to have a peek at the presents, but in all honesty, Olive was looking forward to having them all wait for her on Christmas morning.
"Ol, come on, I'm dying here" Malcolm pleaded with a smile. "Just one, please. I can't wait until Christmas!"
"How old are you?" she asked with a smile.
"Young enough to have this insane stack of present make me believe in Santa Claus again" he said with a shrug. "It is insane. Please, just one. I want to understand the level of insanity we're facing here."
Olive sighed and caved. She felt bad for breaking the rules of the game, but then again, she had so many presents to go through, that opening one of them would not hurt.
"Fine, pick one" she offered.
Malcolm took forever trying to choose the right parcel. He weighed each in his hand again, rattled some of them. He even tried to smell them too.
"Oh, for the love of..." Olive finally snapped. "Here, we're opening this one" she said and grabbed a parcel at random.
She ripped the wrapping paper and found an undescriptive brown box inside. Malcolm's head nearly touched hers when he tried to see the content of the little box.
Olive sighed and pulled the tape. Luckily she didn't need scissors, her nails did the job just fine.
Inside the box they found a bottle of contact lense solution and a wrapped card.
"Olive, I love you, you know that, right? But... it's weird even for you. Why the hell would you ask for this?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow as he read the care instruction on the bottle.
"I didn't" she whispered.
Her hands shook, as she opened the card. It was a gift card for contact lenses and a little note that said:
We wouldn't want you to [not] cry again, would we?
She stared at the note, realising that there was only one person in the whole department who could give her something like this. Coincidentally, it was the only person whose name, or even face she didn't know! They'd met briefly during her interviews, but due to her contact lense emergency she couldn't see him.
What were the odds of him getting her name in the draw? And why would he go above and beyond with his present? He clearly knew who she was yet he'd never bothered approaching her again. It was odd!
She needed to talk to him. But she needed to find him first.