It's Christmas! And I bring you Rufus and Lily Christmas fic! I plan to write 5 of these short stories, time allowing and if there is an audience. Will be a bit more "fluffier" than my usual fare. Please review if you like, or if you don't.

Moonlight & Mistletoe - 22nd December 1982.

Rufus sat on the floor, his guitar on his lap, with sheet music and half finished song lyrics scattered haphazardly around him.

"Snow..glow..throw?" He groaned. "I suck at this!"

"Suck at what?"

He looked up to see the face of Tommy, Lincoln Hawk's drummer peering at him by the door, an amused look on his face. He spotted the guitar and the sheets littered about on the floor.

"Oh…more love songs for Lily?" he said.

"No!" Rufus said, defensibly.

"Oh really?" Tommy arched an eyebrow and looked down at the hastily scribbled notes. "Then 'I want to kiss you under the mistletoe, your face all aglow' is about who, me?" he said, teasingly. Rufus quickly snatched the paper off the floor that Tommy was reading off of, preventing him from reading further.

"It's a work in progress" he mumbled, feeling embarrassed.

Tommy laughed.

"Hey man, there's no need to be embarrassed, it's cute! And that one you wrote, Rosewood, that's a good song. If Lily is your muse, then run with it! Not to mention, it's very romantic."

Rufus uncrumpled the paper.

"Maybe I'll keep going then."

"You should, and that brings me to why I'm here."

"I was wondering that, I know you didn't just come over here to call me romantic" Rufus teased back.

"Ha ha, well whilst Lily might melt at your lyrics of love, I do not. We've been offered a gig, in a really hip and up and coming bar, there's just one catch."

Rufus arched an eyebrow.

"I am not playing in the nude."

Tommy made a face.

"Ewww, and no. They want us to play Christmas songs, we can throw in a few of our own, but it has to be primarily Christmas songs."

Rufus thought for a moment.

"That sounds okay; we could certainly do Christmas songs with a Lincoln Hawk rock twist!"

He strummed a few chords to emphasize his point. Tommy gave him the thumbs up.

"Aces! Gig's next week, we just need to get some extra practice in. Usual place at 7, for the next few days?"

"Aces!" Rufus said, sticking his thumb up in a jovial mockery of Tommy.

"Okay then lover boy, I'll leave you to your Christmas love song. Seriously though, if you can finish it in a few days, we can debut it during this gig. Anyway, where are you guys at? You guys official yet?" Rufus sighed and put his guitar down.

"I think, she wants us to be." He corrected himself. "I know she wants us to be, but she has a lot of pressure from her family so…."

He trailed off, suddenly feeling awkward.

"So they're not big fans of the flannel then?" Tommy said, trying to alleviate the slight tension that suddenly seemed to hang in the air.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Okay bud, I gotta go, but seriously, get that song finished, she'll melt 'like snow, all aglow!'"

Rufus laughed as Tommy left, before picking up his guitar again and strumming a few chords. He thought of Lily, and conjured up the image of her in his mind's eye, remembering how they would share kisses after his gigs, the only light illuminating them coming from the dim lights of his van and the moonlight. That gave him a sudden flash of inspiration and he hastily began writing down the music and lyrics that had started playing in his head.

"Jingle Bells…..Jingle Bells…Jingle all the waaaaaaaaaay!"

Lily stood in the audience, her trusty camera slung around her neck as she watched Lincoln Hawk, and in particular, her "on again, off again" boyfriend sing lead vocals and play guitar on a rock version of "Jingle Bells" It certainly was different, as had most of the show, but she had enjoyed their "rock-out" versions of holiday classics, and she had laughed when she saw him appear on stage, decked out in a Santa hat, complete with fake beard, and half of his body and guitar swathed in gold and silver tinsel. As 'Jingle Bells' came to an end, she watched as Rufus swapped his electric guitar for an acoustic one; and take to the microphone.

"Hope you're all enjoying our special Christmas show!" He paused for a moment as the crowd cheered. "Now, we're going to play our final song. It's a Christmas song that I wrote, for a certain girl in my life, who I hope has a lovely Christmas."

Lily felt her cheeks redden as he looked at her and began to sing.

"Magic is the moonlight
On this lover's dream night
As I see the moonlight
Shining in your eyes

Living in the splendour
Of your kiss so tender
Makes my heart surrender
To your love divine"

He played a short solo before the chorus.

"I love the way you look in the snow,

Your face all aglow.

We kiss in the moonlight, and under the mistletoe….Moonlight and Mistletoe…"

As he sung directly to her, Lily realised that no one in her life had ever looked at her the way that Rufus did. It made her feel uniquely special, loved, and in that moment she found herself falling completely in love with him. As the song finished, he blew a kiss her way, and she realised that she had been so caught up in the moment she had forgotten to take any photos of him playing the final song. Her song. She wished she had, she wanted to capture the way that he had looked at her forever. As the audience filtered out, she went to the bar, hoping that a few swift drinks would help to quell the emotions that were bubbling up inside of her. Gulping down two vodka's she checked the time before ordering a third. She knew it took Rufus about half an hour to sort out his equipment, and that instead of hanging out and having a few beers with the band he'd meet her by his van, so they could sneak a few moments alone together. Usually in the moonlight, she thought fondly, and she touched her necklace, a faux gold "L" on a chain that Rufus had bought her from a flea market a few months ago. She only wore it openly when she was with him; she kept it hidden under a top when she was around her parents. She knew how they viewed Rufus, and she knew they would view the necklace in the same way. He wasn't part of the world they lived in, and they would disregard the necklace as 'cheap tat' which is how they thought of Rufus.

Pushing all thoughts of her parents out of her mind she quickly finished a third drink and made her way out to find Rufus. As she walked out into the cold, fresh air she took a couple of deep breaths, preparing herself for what she wanted to tell him.

"Great show man!"

"Yeah you too!"

"See you later dude!"

"Bye guys!"

Rufus waved his goodbyes to his band mates, leaving them to demolish off a crate a beer. He pulled all this gear outside and began to load up his van, noting the cold air and the inky blackness of the clear sky. As he hauled his amps and guitars into the van he heard the familiar 'clip-clop' of Lily's heels.

"Hey you." He said, smiling.

"Hey Santa." She said, smiling back at him. He looked at her, slightly confused. "The hat…you're still wearing the hat." He laughed, and went to take it off. "No" she said, moving close to him and placing her arms around his waist. "Leave it on, it's cute." "Really?"

"She nodded. "Yeah, very cute." He dipped his head down and kissed her deeply. "Mmmm" she hummed, against his lips. He slid his tongue gently into her mouth, caressing her bottom lip. She tightened the hold she had around his waist, wanting to be as close to him as she could be. As they broke apart she looked up at him. "So…I really liked that last song" she said, suddenly feeling shy.

"Did you?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "I think the girl I wrote it for liked it more" She soft punched him in his shoulder.

"Very amusing."

He leaned down and kissed her again, relishing the way she felt against him. God, she drove him crazy. She softly moaned against him before breaking away.

"I can't stay, I'm sorry."

He nodded. He knew, and didn't push her further.

"So….do you have any mistletoe?" she said.

"Any excuse to kiss me again huh?"

"Pretty much."

He leaned into the van. "I don't have any mistletoe, so this will have to do." She laughed as he pulled a sprig of gold tinsel out and held it above their heads.

"You're so cheesy!"

"I know you love it really."

She looked up sharply at his words, and cuddled into his chest for a few seconds before breaking away and looking back up at him.

"That's the thing….I do. I love you. I've….I've never felt this way before."

He wrapped his arms back around her and gazed into her eyes.

"Lil…. I love you too. I don't write cheesy Christmas songs for just anyone you know." She rolled her eyes at him.

"I was being serious."

"And so am I. I love you too."

He tucked the tinsel into one of her pockets.

"To remember me by….you know, over Christmas."

"I don't want to be with my family, I want to be with you." It was barely a whisper. He took her into his arms again.

"I know." He smoothed a piece of hair away from her cheek and kissed her lips softly.

"Next year…next year will be different."

"Promise?"

"I promise."