All characters of Open Season, Boog and Ursa included, belong to Sony Pictures Animation.

'This place...always seems so very big to me. Mother would have torn her fur out.'

The Russian bear giggled to herself before returning her gaze to the stars high above in the ebony satin sky. The green grass tickled her paws as she delicately leaned back against the dewy, green grass, her normally light reddish-brown fur now a significantly darker shade due in the near pitch-blackness of night.

Hardly a year had passed since the fiasco revolving around the ludicrous switcheroo between Boog, the self-proclaimed leader of the forest and formerly lone ursine of aforementioned forest, and Doug, one of Ursa's fellow circus bears. Needless to say, the bearess still needed time to adjust to the slower pace and wide open spaces commonplace to the "great outdoors" (as Boog so endearingly coined them).

'Boog...' the bearess mused with a bemused grin.

She still couldn't get over the warm personality of the ursine that'd captured her heart and vice versa. Hard to believe that a year ago Ursa, without a second thought, would have backhanded anyone foolish enough to predict, even for a simple joke, that she would fall for someone as unconventional and insouciant as Boog.

Well, here she sat now, wondering and pondering about that same bear...thinking continually over a smile and face that had been haunting her for days, both in and out of sleep.

For no apparent reason at all, her lips downturned into a frown as time went on. Suddenly, the stars no longer held beauty—none Ursa could see anyway. In fact, their brilliance—the stars themselves— seemed to be...melting?

No wait...everything seemed to be melting. Except the ground still felt solid...the crickets still chirped...

That's when Ursa finally noticed the dampness of her own eyes. Swiping a paw across her face, the bearess pulled back to verify. She softly gasped at the saltwater accumulated on her claw...as well as at the fact that the tears hadn't ceased.

Yet why...what reason lay for Ursa to be sad? Granted, she missed her circus friends from time to time, and such times warranted a few tears. Oddly enough, though, Ursa possessed a sinking feeling that nostalgia had nothing to do with her dripping eyes...or the growing pit in her stomach.

In her ongoing confusion, the bearess shifted her glance from the ground to the stars then back, her eyes alternating every two seconds. What could be wrong with her...?

Then the reason clicked.

Her mother...

Her mother showed her the stars the night of her birth. She taught her about stargazing. When Ursa was just a tiny cub...Every night, after all work had been completed, practice done, and all equipment stored away, Ursa and her mother would always venture to the outer proximity of the circus grounds and make games of spotting the constellations. Ursa even learned of the different tales that went behind each constellation—their origins, their respective cultures.

No games she played with the other children could ever compare to the excitement and joy attainable from seeking and uncovering the starry patterns, their shapes still and distant, as if hoping to evade detection from eager little eyes. Oh, how Ursa loved this interstellar version of Hide-and-Go-Seek...at least before—

"Yo Urs, what's happen-?"

Startled by the sudden voice, Ursa shot around to face the bear approaching her—Boog. Unfortunately, so taken by surprise by his presence, she'd momentarily forgot about her still running tears...and Boog, pausing in mid-sentence, noticed them immediately.

The male's smile dripped into a concerned frown. "...ing...Oh man...what's wrong?"

Only now did the bearess, thanks to Boog's question, remember her dampened eyes. In awkward haste, she rubbed her arm over her face, managing to rid her face of at least most of the pesky saltwater. "Oh! It's...nothing! It's nothing."

Boog did not look convinced. He narrowed his eyes in question, his head tilting as if in search of a telltale sign of Ursa's discomfiture. "Your eyes don't look like it's nothing."

Tears born anew, the addressed looked away in regret and shame. Ursa prided herself on being strong; circus life, after all, was no life for the weak or faint at heart and crying simply didn't add into the equation that was once the bearess's life. Some habits are just that hard to break.

Boog refused to give an inch. Sitting down beside the bearess, he placed a paw on her nearest shoulder, his voice warm and tender in spite of the icy air. "C'mon baby, look at me. Look at me."

Reluctantly and slowly—but surely—Ursa lifted her vision to look into her love's earthy brunette eyes, sparkling like robust gems in the misty, mystical moonlight. The bearess swore her breath escaped her for an eternity of a second.

Alas, the second could not last long enough.

"Hello?" Boog inquired in a half-joking tone, waving a hand in front of his girlfriend's eyes, "Earth to Ursa? Geez, girl, you're really out of it tonight!"

"Huh...? Oh! I-I'm so sorry!" the bearess worriedly stuttered, "I didn't mean to—"

"Whoa...whoa now..." He had her by the shoulders. "You gotta relax. All that stress will do ya in if ya don't."

Ursa tried in vain to hide her tomato-hued blush from Boog by turning her face away. Her upturned lips did not go unnoticed, however.

Before long, the bear reciprocated the expression in pure relief. "There ya go. Smile. Smile! It's Christmas for cryin' out loud! You can't celebrate it if you spend it all by your lonesome, right? How else would you get somebody a present?"

At these words, Ursa smirked, her sadness temporarily at the back of her mind. 'Funny he should mention presents.' "Oh, I am so hurt by you, Boog. Were you only trying to squeeze out of me the identity of my present for you?" She waved a claw at him as if to say 'Naughty, naughty.'

The larger male guffawed in good humor. "Oh darn, you got me! Welp, Papa Claus might as well scratch my name off the Nice List this year!"

Ursa futilely tried to stifle her own giggles, but eventually decided to give up and simply allow her mirth to burst through. Boog followed suit soon after, his baritone chuckles mixing with his mate's tittering. For the duration of the laughter, Ursa could bask in the whole-hearted warmth of her mate's comfort...just as so long as she stayed away from the reason for her original despondency.

But she couldn't use Boog in such a manner. 'It would be so unfair to him. Ever since we started dating, he's been so patient. He's been so kind. We promised each other we would share everything with each other. But I won't tell him because I have no choice. I'll tell him because I want for him to know.'

As she ran through this careworn line of thought, Boog, having noticed his girlfriend's laughter die down, quit his own chuckling, now fixing his mate with the same concern from prior. "Something up...?"

"You're right, Boog. I was silly to isolate myself." She turned to her significant other with look full of resolve. "I want to confide in you something...personal."

Eyebrows perked up on the larger bear's head; Ursa's words had piqued his curiosity. 'She looks pretty damn serious about this. Whatever she wants to say to me, it must be big.'

"My mother..."

Just those two words-nothing else...

Rightfully confused, Boog scrunched his eyebrows in a struggle for understanding. "Your mother...?"

Ursa nodded back solemnly. God, this retelling would hurt. "Yes, you see...Christmas is also an anniversary for me."

Both surprised and yet strangely apprehensive at the upcoming explanation, Boog gestured for her to continue. "Really...? For what?"

He regretted that question instantaneously for Ursa's eyes suddenly shone once again with tears, even though this time a forced smile accompanied them, the pain all too evident in the bearess's eyes. "My mother...she died on Christmas morning. Father didn't notice until I tried to wake her up. She wouldn't open her eyes. That's how he knew."

Her voice became thicker and thicker...as if someone stuffed gum down her lungs and she was struggling to breath in spite of the offensive obstruction. "The humans buried her three days later, less than a week before New Year's. My father, myself, the other animals—we never bothered celebrating Christmas again."

Only at the end of this concise yet heartbreaking story did Ursa finally permit the tears to fall. Boog swore he never felt more of a heel than ever before. Words failed him at the moment as he hesitantly reached a paw out to her. "Oh my God...honey, I..."

Ursa shook her head, tears still streaming down her face in rivulets. "No...Don't apologize. You had every right to hear it...A true mate does not keep secrets from his or her other half."

Those words struck a chord in Boog's heart. Even though her intention hadn't been to spite him, the bear still felt a strong pang of guilt strike him deep down. 'C'mon, Boog, figure something out, for crying out loud! Your own girlfriend is crying her eyes out and here you are, doing nothing but sitting around like a lemon!'

Energized with confidence in proving his inner voice wrong, Boog finally gathered his courage and wrapped his arms around Ursa, his arms cradling her into his soft, furry chest as the bearess continued to sob into her love's fur.

For the space of what felt like an eternity, the two ursines remained that way—arms linked around each other, eyes of both closed tightly with emotion, and the heat of each other's body defiant against the unfeeling winds.

At last, Ursa...slowly but surely...dared a genuine smile. No longer did she feel as if sorrow contained her or her heart. Her face still pressed into Boog's chest, the female bear whispered against her mate's body, "I'm so happy you came."

Boog chuckled, the action making his chest gently bounce against the side of his girlfriend's head. "Heh, don't mention it...Merry Christmas, baby."

"Merry Christmas, Boogy-Bear."

A little short...? Expect no apology about that. On the bright side, this one-shot's given me a better perspective on my backstory for Over the Hedge's Vincent.