"Wake up! It's Christmas!"

"Hm? Oh! Ow!" Ahiru whined, placing a hand to her temple.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm-" Ahiru gasped sharply, she looked up shyly through her lashes at Fakir and the concerned look he had on his features as he brushed hair out of her face.

"I don't feel well."

Ahiru got out of the bed as quickly as she could and made her way to the bathroom. The last time she felt like this was on her 21st birthday before she realized just how much alcohol they really put into those mixed cocktails.

But what surprised her was when Fakir knelt down beside her and did his best to keep the wisps of hair out of her face.

"Do you want to stay in here?"

She shook her head. "We can't, it's Christmas. They'll come in here. I'm okay, you don't have to stay in here."

"You're green. Do you need something to drink?"

"Ask Auntie Edel, she'll know what to give me."

He rubbed her back between her shoulder blades and left her alone.

She flushed the toilet and pulled herself up before going to the sink and throwing cold water on her face. She felt better already, but she looked at herself in the mirror. Still in the pink bra she wore yesterday and her jeans, she looked down, one foot covered with a sock.

What did she do last night?

The only thing she could remember was chugging Old Oma's eggnog.

"Oh." She started to groan, placing her forehead in her hands, one long continuous groan that lasted until she heard the door open and Fakir knocking on the doorframe.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I feel better."

He handed her an off colored drink and she scrunched up her nose at it. She plugged her nostrils and downed it.

Fakir sat on the bottom steps of the staircase with Ahiru by his side, she still wasn't feeling well, and when she wasn't paying attention, she would lean against him, and against his better judgement he would let her.

It wouldn't have been honest to say he was surprised that he had gotten any gifts at all, much less a gift from every member of the Mallard flock, he was shocked, flabbergasted, and sure the gifts weren't personal.

Gifts for him, and the such.

But he had never gotten so many gifts in his life.

He and Rue never got each other more than one or two gifts, and occasionally her husband Mytho would buy him a gift, and he definitely got a bottle of red wine from Autor with a red ribbon around the neck.

"Here." Ahiru had said, placing a small box in his lap. "I got it as soon as Rue said you would do it."

It was heavy, and fit well in his hand and it wasn't unforeseen that the gift would be a book.

What bewildered him was what the book was.

Lohengrin.

Ahiru sat on the staircase, her whole body unashamedly pressed up against Fakir, her cheek squished against his shoulder.

She didn't try to watch his reaction, but was curious about the way his hand paused when he ripped the paper away to reveal the author's name.

She tapped the cover with her finger. "He's my favorite writer. This is my favorite one."

He nodded and kissed her forehead. She didn't miss the cooing of her aunties.

So proud that she finally settled down.

"Here."

"Hm?" She looked down at the shimmering red box that he held out for her.

"I'll be honest, this wasn't planned, but it was something Charon gave me."

She pulled away at the paper and the string until it fell to the floor by her feet.

"He said it was your mother's, that he found it in the old house."

Ahiru felt her mouth fall open, she had been looking everywhere for this.

The little wooden box that played the parting music in Romeo and Juliet. A jewelry box, where her mother placed her wedding ring after Ahiru's father died.

"He told me about it, but outside of your mother passing I didn't know anything about… you. It's why when we came back, I said we needed to do better."

She turned the key, the bittersweet notes playing between them. Ahiru opened the lid to the find the two rings inside, the diamond engagement ring and the golden band. She dumped it out into her hand.

"He probably wanted me to propose."

Ahiru slipped them both into her left ring finger. A size too big, but still.

It was beautiful.

"My father made her this box when they got engaged. That's how they met, you know? They played Romeo and Juliet together."

He nodded. "I remember, you told me."

She pulled away and placed the box beside her on the staircase. "Thank you, Fakir." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close.

He was quick to follow, keeping her in a warm embrace for as long as he could.

Fakir hadn't understood why she brought an empty suitcase until after Christmas morning as she tried to place both hers and his gifts inside.

"You should have told me, I would have brought one."

"Oh no, it's fine, I'll figure it out."

He sat on the bed, unable to fight the small smile that formed in his face as she strategized.

She furrowed her brows, and crinkled her nose, her lips screwing up into some sort of frown.

The rest of the house was in a flurry, packing and saying their goodbyes.

He almost didn't want it to end.

He would have to go back home, to Berlin, to the apartment he lived in by himself.

Back to the same old schedule of researching and writing. Never seeing a single soul except the librarian.

He wouldn't have an excuse to hold Ahiru's hand.

He wondered how she did it. Living so far away from a family that obviously loved her.

Maybe that's what made Christmas so much more wonderful.

"Oh, Fakir?"

"Yes?"

Fakir looked over at Ahiru, she held a small package in her hand, turning it over and over.

"Can we make a stop before we leave town?"

"Of course." He said. "Where do we need to go?"

She handed him the present. "To see my mom."

He smiled and nodded. "What is it?"

Ahiru flopped down next to him in the bed. "It's a letter, I write her one every year so she knows everything that's going on."

Fakir shook it and something rattled around inside. He raised his eyebrow at her and the sound.

"It's silly." She smiled and shook her head. "You'll laugh and say 'that's so stupid'."

He nudged her arm with his elbow until she looked at him. "I'd never say that."

Ahiru smiled and leaned against him until she was able to get her hand back on the box. "It's a rock."

"Just a rock?"

"Well, when I was little." She took the box back and rattled it in her hand. "We would go on hikes and I would try and find the prettiest rock and I would put it in this jar mama had. And she would say they were better than diamonds."

He smiled and nudged her again, "See? That's not stupid."

Ahiru blushed, looking away from his soft expression before she stood back up and finished packing.

"Okay! I got it all in!"

"Next time I see you, young man, we better be calling you Mr. Mallard." Oma joked, patting his shoulder before kissing his cheek. "Take care of my cantaloupe."

"I will." He said.

"And I see it fits!" Oma tugged at the blue sweater he wore, the green initial F knit into the front.

"Thank you, it's wonderful." He said, brushing the front of it.

Oma patted his cheek one last time before he let the other aunties have a turn.

"You have to come back for your birthday, Ahiru, we haven't had a big bash for you since you left for college!" Auntie Ruth said, "And make sure you get the time off to come and see us again. With or without Ahiru."

Fakir looked over at Ahiru, being squished by all her cousins hugging each other at once. "I think it'll be easy to convince her to come with me."

"Okay! I'll call as soon as we're home." Ahiru promised, stepping away from her family to stand beside Fakir. "And we'll-"

"Aw, look! You're under the mistletoe!"

Fakir blinked and looked up before them, where there was in fact mistletoe.

Mistletoe wasn't a tradition he celebrated or partook in, but it was obvious her family did.

"What are you waiting for? Kiss her!"

Fakir looked down at Ahiru, who was already looking up at him.

Just a quick, just a small one.

He ran his hand along her jaw, tilting her head towards him, and closing his eyes he pressed his lips to hers.

He heard her tiny whimper, and was surprised when her own lips started to move against his own, her hand crawling up the front of his shirt, making him quiver.

He pulled away before he let it go any further, looking behind him at all the aunties and cousins who did a terrible job of hiding their giggles behind their hands.

"That's what you get for not kissing all week." Pique said. "Yeah, don't think we haven't noticed."

He rolled his eyes, but Ahiru was blushing.

He may have kissed her, but she was the one that took it above a typical mistletoe kiss.

"We should get going." He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her outside, all their luggage was in the car, the last thing it needed was a driver and a passenger.

As they walked out into the snow, her family piled out into the porch, enthusiastically waving goodbye as they drove away.

"Alright." He said, turning the heater up as she rubbed her hands together for warmth. "Where's your mother?"

"Mama. It's me again." Ahiru knelt in the snow before a small grave stone, the top piled high with snow, the rest was covered in a thin cover of moss.

Ahiru held the wrapped gift in her hand and put it on the ledge of the stone before she took it and unwrapped it herself.

The stone fell into her hand and she added it to the rows and rows of rocks that already existed on the edge. "It's hard to find really pretty ones in the snow, but I found this one by the river. Isn't it perfect?"

It was a smooth, flat stone, perfect for skipping, but it was completely red, she was sure if she tumbled it, it would be some kind of precious stone, but she liked it in this raw state.

She thought mama would like it, too.

She took out the letter and placed the wrapping paper in the box.

"Can I read it to you, mama?" Ahiru didn't have to wait long for an answer, a gentle wind blew by, blowing her hair out of her face, a sign she always took as her mother's way of saying yes.

Ahiru shifted and cleared her throat. "Dear Mama,

I don't think you'll be proud of what I've done this past week. And it was an accident, I swear! Sometimes you just don't know how to tell your family the truth. But I told Pique I was with someone, and I didn't have the heart to tell everybody that it wasn't true.

So Rue and I -remember Rue? - we came up with this plan that I would have a fake boyfriend. We asked her half brother to do it, and he did. We've met before so it wasn't like we were doing this without knowing each other, but…

Mama how did you know you were in love with papa?

I've learned so much about a man that I've known for a year in the span of a week than I had ever tried in a span of a year. And even if we were just telling each other about ourselves so we could better lie to my family, I still loved going to bed with him every night and talking about everything.

He's wonderful, mama, he looks mean and he scowls a lot, but I like being the person he smiles at.

Is that selfish, mama?

Anyway, we have to go back now, and I'll never see him again except when he comes in to say hi to Rue and Mytho.

Will he say hi to me now too?

But you probably want to hear about the Aunties and how Oma and Old Oma are doing, don't you?

Oma made Fakir a sweater, and Old Oma kept patting his hand.

Auntie Cherri and Mari kept making him try the food they made.

Auntie Ruth, Beth, Candace, Goatette, and Uncle Charon kept telling him to come back with or without me.

All my cousins kept making plans for our wedding.

They really liked him, mama, what do I do when I have to tell them we "broke up"?

They were all so happy I had found someone.

"Anyway, this Christmas was one of the best we've had in a while, if you were here, I'm sure you'd say the same. With Love, Cantaloupe."

Ahiru folded up the letter and placed it under a rock. It would get thrown away as soon as she was out of sight by the groundskeeper, but she already knew that.

She was just happy he didn't move the rocks.

Ahiru patted her newest rock before she stood and walked back to the car, beckoning her with its warmth.

"Point your toes, girls!" Ahiru shouted from the front of the bar as she watched them in the mirror as they performed their tendus.

"And clean finish!" She turned around as they stayed stuck frozen in first position. "Okay good job, pilés!"

Ahiru stood back, playing the music and watching them go through their well remembered pilé routine.

There was a knock at the door and she smiled at the littles, telling them to keep going.

Rue leaned against the doorframe, lightly pushing the curtain out of the way. "How's class?"

"They're doing better."

"Mm. So are you coming?"

"Coming to what?"

Rue rolled her eyes. "I just told you what before class started."

"Oh, oh! That New Year's Eve Party? I don't know."

"Oh c'mon, you can't stay home and have a glass of wine by yourself again."

Ahiru smiled awkwardly. "I don't know, I'm not really a party person."

Rue rolled her eyes. "It's just a small get together!"

"It's your old friends from college." Ahiru stated. "The ones from the sorority?"

Rue bit her lip. "Yes. But they've calmed down. Besides, Fakir will be there."

Ahiru screwed up her lips. "Why would I care about that?"

"Ahiru. He comes here everyday and you always come out and speak to him." Rue crossed her arms. "He barely says hello to me anymore."

"We're friends." Ahiru said, shrugging awkwardly and avoiding her eye.

"Well then it won't be a problem."

Ahiru's gaze flashed to Rue before she turned away again, a small, but knowing smirk.

"Well Pique, I don't know, I don't go to parties."

"You shaved your legs, right?" Pique asked over FaceTime.

"Yes. I did."

"Wear that sparkly blue one! The one Lillie and I got you!"

Ahiru pouted. "I don't know, it's kind of a lot." Ahiru went to the suitcase that still had her gifts in it and lifted up the sparkling blue dress she spoke about. It was short, and the straps were two thin black cords of string that crossed in the back.

"It's perfect for a New Years Eve party! What's Rue wearing?"

"Her little red dress."

"See? You'll look great."

Ahiru grimaced at Pique. "Are you sure?"

"Positive!"

Ahiru ran her finger over the shimmering fabric.

Ahiru stood behind Mytho and Rue as they knocked at the door, through which she could already hear loud, obnoxious music.

"A small get together?" Ahiru whispered into Rue's ear.

"Shut up."

Ahiru giggled as the door was opened and they were pulled inside.

She was handed a glass of champagne and thrust into the madness, but did her best to stick to Rue, and she could have stayed there all night, if a hand that wrapped itself around hers pulled her away from her party going companion.

"Hey! What're- oh." Ahiru stopped her accusations when she saw who held her hand, and a gentle smile graced her lips. "Fakir."

"Rue told me you'd come."

Ahiru beamed and stepped closer. "She told me you'd come."

"You don't look comfortable."

"I'm not." Ahiru looked down at the dress. "It's the one-"

"Pique and Lillie got you." He nodded. "I remember."

"I guess it's only been a week, huh?"

"Go get your coat, I can barely hear you."

Ahiru smiled and nodded, placing her glass of champagne on a table, she grabbed her coat and Fakir helped her get into it.

"Oh shit, I forgot."

"What?" She asked, tugging her hair out from the coat collar and opening the door.

"I didn't drive myself here."

"Oh, I didn't either." She looked out into the snow, the dark and cold, but she didn't really feel like going back inside either. "Do you want to walk?"

He looked down at her, questioning her decision, but he shut the door behind him.

"I think my place is closer."

"Oh? And how do you know?"

"Because I live down the street."

"Maybe I live next door."

"Do you?"

She laughed. "No."

They started walking away and down the street.

"We can still stay up till midnight, and then I can take you home."

Ahiru nodded. "That would be nice. Rue said it was just going to be a small get together."

"And I knew it wouldn't be, which is why I had a plan b."

"Always so smart, aren't cha?"

"One of us has to be."

"Hey!" She gave him a playful shove.

He smiled down at her, softly like the glow of the full moon.

Then she had an idea.

She bent down and picked up a handful of snow and lobbed it at his spine.

"Hey!"

She giggled wildly and wasn't too surprised when one hit her stomach.

A few more hit her before she was able to collect enough snow for a second one, but as soon as she did she bounced up and threw at him, hitting him square in the face.

"Oh Fakir!" She ran towards him, his hands covering his nose and eyes. "Oh I'm so sorry!"

But as soon as she was close enough, he wrapped his arms around her waist and toppled to the ground.

"That's cold!" She squealed, trying to get up, but he was bent over her, unwilling to let her up just yet. She let herself catch her breath but mostly she gazed up at him, into his eyes. She placed a hand on his cheek, wiping with her thumb where she was sure most of the snow had hit him.

"Fakir, I-"

"Yes?"

"Oh- well. Never mind." Her hand dropped from his face and she looked away.

"Just tell me."

"It's nothing, we should go to your place now."

He opened his mouth to argue or say more, but he stood up and offered her his hand instead.

"You probably got melted snow all over your clothes, as well. You can change into something warmer at my place."

She nodded and for a moment didn't let go of his hand as he walked ahead.

"Do you want hot chocolate?" Fakir asked through the door as she changed into the T-shirt and sweatpants he gave her.

"With whipped cream and caramel!"

He chuckled. "Of course."

He moved to the kitchen and opened his fridge, pulling out the whipped cream and caramel he bought just in case she came over.

As soon as Rue had told him Ahiru was going to the party, he knew that she wouldn't want to be there, and it was the perfect opportunity to-

To what?

Kiss her?

Ask her out?

He couldn't, he was a coward, he should have kissed her when she was lying in the snow and looked like an angel.

Now he had her in his house, in his clothes and then what would he do then?

He knows what she would do.

She'd leave in a huff and he'd never be able to show his face at the studio again.

"You have to stir it more, it's clumping."

He gasped and nearly jumped as Ahiru pointed to the cup.

She was pressing herself against him, a hand on his shoulder to steady herself. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Thank you. For letting me change, and making me a drink!"

She hugged him around his middle and stole the drink from his hands to finish making it.

She sat on the couch, her finished drink on the coffee table as she and Fakir played thumb war.

She proved to be terrible at it, and Fakir wasn't about to just let her win, but he never made any moves to win.

"Have you read the book I gave you?"

He smirked. "Not yet."

"You have to!"

The television played in the background, gentle music while the world waited for the clock to reach midnight.

"I have to tell you something, I've already read it."

"You should have told me that!" She flushed in embarrassment. "Oh! But do you like it?"

"It's not my favorite story."

"What! How could you say that!"

"I try not to like my own stories too much."

Ahiru's thumb paused and Fakir put his thumb over hers and she looked up at him. "What?"

He smirked. "I try not to-"

"I heard you! What do you mean!"

"I wrote it."

"No you didn't." She shook her head, pulling her thumb out from under his.

"I did. I can show you the dates I wrote them, a long time before it was published."

She started to smile, she could see the honesty in his eyes, and when she thought about it, she could see himself as the author, his manner and way of speaking reflected in his writing. "It really is yours." Then she grew very red. "I gave you your own book."

He switched his hands to hold both of hers. "I appreciate it. I appreciate that you like it."

"Like it? I love it." She leaned her head against his shoulder and he kissed the top of her head. "You know, we're not pretending anymore."

"I know." He let go of one of her hands and cupped her cheek.

On the TV, the countdown started.

"Do you remember what you said on Christmas Eve? Or what I promised?"

She shook her head, she didn't remember anything. "No."

"I promised I'd stay by your side."

"3!..2!..1!"

"Will you?" She asked.

"I promised." He tilted her head, and watched her eyes dart down to his mouth.

He swooped down and captured her lips, something he meant.

Something real.

With no audience.

With every intention that tomorrow he could kiss her again.

He pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.

Ahiru smiled, "Is it too soon to ask if I can move in?"

"No, it's cold without you." He intertwined their hands.

"Do you want to go with me again, next year?"

"To your family's?"

She nodded.

"We'll get really good at acting like a couple by then."

Ahiru laughed, and peppered his face with kisses.

"I think they'll expect us to be engaged by next year."

"Maybe they'll get what they want." He kissed her nose before he pulled away.

"Promise?"

"I do."