Merry Christmas Everyone, hope you're all doing okay :) This is just a little one shot I got asked to write for an Auslly advent calender by a friend on fanfiction. I don't think she's doing it anymore but you could still check it out if you want to (She's called Auslly Finchel). So since she stopped the calender I just decided to post this separately, unfortunately it turned out waaaaay longer than I had intended. I don't know why but that tends to happen to me a lot :/ Alright, I'll stop waffling now. Hope you enjoy this story and thank you so much for reading!

7:00

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are very sorry to announce that all taxis, trains and buses out of this station have been cancelled, due to the approaching blizzard. Blankets and warm drinks are available from various shops if needed. Merry Christmas Eve..."

The blunt, deep voice coming out of the speakers preceded to drivel on about discounts on apple flavoured Christmas underwear and free tissues from any restaurant. A young brunette rolled her eyes; the tissues she could understand, but the apple flavoured underwear was just plain weird. Even if it was Christmas. Running a hand over her face in frustration, she awkwardly leaned against the station wall, glaring subtly at a poster about the 'magic' of Christmas.

Don't get her wrong, she wasn't a cynic, she wasn't a pessimist and she wasn't the stereotypical Grinch either. She was simply a 19 year old, on her own on Christmas Eve, who hadn't eaten in about 4 hours and had a terrible track record with cold weather. Terrible. It was her second year of college and she desperately wanted to spend this Christmas with her family.

She had missed them a little. Actually had she missed them a lot. Even her brother, which it pained her to admit. She also missed the annual Dawson Christmas party, where all her aunts and uncles would hassle her about studies or non existent boyfriends. Oh, the embarrassment she would feel during those conversations, good times, good times.

Therefore being lost in a train station, with no chance of getting home for Christmas was kinda depressing to say the least. Even arguing with a taxi driver or two hadn't helped. So you see, she was no Grinch, but she was in no mood for having Christmas magic shoved down her throat either.

A sudden poke jolted her out of her thoughts, she was so tired (And not to mention freaking starving) that she hadn't noticed the figure stand next to her, probably wallowing in cold and self pity much like herself. She opened her eyes, confused as to when she had shut them in the first place, and turned to the person.

There were exactly 3 thoughts that rushed through her head in the next space of 3 seconds.

'I hope this isn't that taxi driver I insulted.'

'How have a lasted this long without food?'

'Hey, I know this guy! Wait- he's my ex boyfriend isn't he? Darn.'

Her eyes widened in shock as she foolishly banged her head on the wall in an attempt to stand up straight. He winced visibly before offering an amused smile, which she returned with an embarrassed huff.

"Erm, are you okay?" His hands were in his pockets and he wore a slightly uncomfortable expression. Who could blame him? He had no clue how he was supposed to react in this situation, especially knowing how emotionally complex his ex girlfriend was. She avoided his gaze awkwardly before nodding.

"Yeah I'm fine, you know I do that a lot anyway," She mumbled. He smirked, visibly relaxing at her reply, while she still found it too hard to face him. They both knew why, it hurt her pride a little too much. Unbelievably stubborn she was, a trait they both unfortunately shared. "What are you doing here, Austin?"

"Here? I'm trying to catch a train, thought that was pretty obvious," He replied easily, causing her to roll her eyes. She would have shoved him, but it felt a little weird, you know because they were exes and everything.

"I meant this train station, blondie. You don't live anywhere near here."

"Come on Dawson, didn't we agree that 'blondie' was kind of cliche the second day we met? I know you can do better than that," He smiled, feigning disappointment while she gaped at his forwardness. And what was worse? He was right. Compared to all those years of name calling and endless teasing, blondie was shameful.

"Yeah yeah, you have a point, I'll give you that," She admitted, purposely quiet so he wouldn't hear. He noticed this of course, but decided it wasn't very gentleman like to annoy the girl further. He would just get to that later. The brunette turned to him after a pause, trying to get the conversation back on topic. "So what are you actually doing here? And don't give me any stupid answers." She crossed her arms in a condescending manner while he rolled his eyes playfully.

"Ha ha, you know me so well," He deadpanned before continuing, "I drove here from a friend's place. I'm actually on the way to my Mom's house. You know with my Dad's wedding and all, I really didn't want her to be on her own this Christmas. I was gonna surprise her." Ally smiled at this, momentarily remembering the close relationship between him and his mother.

"You missed her cooking too didn't you?" She teased lightly, earning a chuckle from him. It wasn't that Mimi was an unbelievable amazing cook, it was that Austin just happened to be an unbelievably bad one. It wasn't his fault though, being his uncoordinated self and all.

"At this point, anything edible is better than the takeaway I've been having for the past 2 months. I didn't think it was possible to get sick of pizza and Chinese food- but it actually happened," He sighed while she laughed at him.

"I'm sorry Austin, I can see how much that food meant to you," She said sarcastically, reaching up to pat his shoulder in a parental manner. He looked at her while she did this, a fond smile playing on his lips.

For a second, he properly examined the differences about her. She had definitely grown up more, her hair had lost its blonde tips and her posture showed the confidence she had lacked as a growing teen. The last time they had seen each other was when they were both 17. She still looked young, but older all the same. It felt a little weird to him.

"What?" She asked consciously. She cringed slightly, hoping her tone didn't come across as rude to him. He simply shook his head and gave a dismissive shrug, before readjusting his grey beanie.

"It's nothing, doesn't matter." She wasn't particularly happy with the answer, but he continued before she could push it, "Erm, so what about you? Why are you here on Christmas Eve?"

"I'm on my way home as well, to spend Christmas with my family. To be honest, I've been feeling kinda homesick at college lately," She smiled softly, a subtle feeling of vulnerability in her voice. "At this rate, I'll be spending the first few hours of Christmas sleeping on this gum infested wall."

"Why don't you just come with me? Our parents still live in the same area, it should only take a few hours to get there," he blurted suddenly, causing her to look at him in surprise. He coughed awkwardly, embarrassed at his outburst, and quickly shoved his hands back into his pockets. She found it quite sweet.

"Erm I..." She started.

"Sorry, I just.. You seemed so down. I know that was a bit forward."

"No it's alright, I just think it might be dangerous. The announcer was talking about a blizzard," She replied. "Not to mention the fact that you're not the best driver, Austin." She had never understood that, not to boost his ego, but the guy had great hand eye coordination when it came to sports and instruments. That was evident throughout high school. So it just didn't add up when he turned out to be a truly horrible driver.

He smirked at her proudly, "Come on Ally, you know you loved our reckless teen car journeys." Truthfully she had, but she sure wasn't going to let him know that. Instead she crossed her arms defiantly, ready to tell him to shut up, when he tugged on her arm and began pulling her through the station.

"Fine, I'll go with you. Not that your giving me any choice," She sighed, causing him to chuckle lightly, "But if we end up freezing to death or something, I'm going to kill you, okay?"

"Jeez Ally, have a little faith."

9:00

"Jeez Ally, have a little faith," Ally said in a deep and overly macho voice, mimicking the blonde boy next to her. His face held a look of shame and mild embarrassment as he sighed, placing his head onto his steering wheel not so gracefully. The car made a loud honking noise in response, causing him to yank his head back up in shock.

She jumped at the sudden noise before bursting into laughter, he looked at her with a weak smile before speaking, "Looks like you were right about the blizzard. I'm sorry, I just assumed it wouldn't be that bad." She shook her head at him teasingly before he continued, "We already know the doors won't budge so it looks like we're gonna be here for a while."

Ironically, a mere five minutes after the duo had set off for their homes, huge levels of snow and wind came pouring from the sky, making it almost impossible to see while driving. Austin attempted to drive with caution, not because he had grown out of his recklessness, but because he refused to crash with Ally sitting right next to him.

Unfortunately, an impatient driver decided to barge into them, completely knocking their car off the road and into a large heap of snow. To say the blonde, whose testosterone levels had been severely decked, was mad was an understatement. He swore he would track down that crazy driver and get even. To which Ally had scoffed, knowing he would probably forget about it in a matter of hours.

"Don't apologise, it's not all your fault," She smiled with feigned innocence while he glared at her playfully. The brunette laughed quietly to herself before glancing at him again, suddenly realizing how long it had been since they had last spent anytime together. They had been friends for years before they started dating and she would be lying if she said she hadn't missed him, just a little. "Erm, at least now we get to catch up, I've not seen you since senior year, after all."

"Yeah, it feels weird doesn't it?" He replied, while shifting into a more comfortable position. Well, as comfortable as you can get in a cramped car seat. He mentally cursed his freakishly long legs. Ally felt slightly relieved knowing that she wasn't the only one who felt a little weirdness in the atmosphere. Austin settled unhappily into another awkward position before turning to her once more, "It's cool seeing you though, Alls."

In reaction to this, Ally nodded and smiled awkwardly, kicking herself because of the faintest blush creeping onto her cheeks, 'Man Ally, don't get all blushy, he's not your boyfriend so he's not allowed to make you feel like that anymore!'

Austin mentally face palmed and sighed at his apparently stupid words. Well, he thought they were stupid, a regular person would have considered them perfectly normal. 'Cool? COOL!? Of all the words you could have said and you used cool? You're an idiot Austin, a complete idiot.' He thought in annoyance.

Despite the anxiousness both of them felt at that specific moment, they turned and smiled weakly at each other, attempting to feign normality ... and failing miserably of course. Ally, feeling she was being way too 'girly girly', tried to take control of the situation.

"Right, let's catch up then, how about 20 questions?" She asked turning to him, while he slumped dramatically and let out a groan. His action reminded her so much of a sulky child that it was scary. She gave him a questioning look, which he sighed at.

"More like 100 questions. Come on Ally, every time we do this game you always end up asking way too many questions because of your curiosity issues and I'm just there dying of boredom and- "

"Sshhh Austin, I'm thinking of a question."

10:30

"Alright, question 58, what's the weirdest thing you've ever seen a someone do on campus?" Ally asked after a long pause of thinking, her head was in her hands and her body slumped involuntarily as she stared intently at the blonde next to her, awaiting an answer.

His face crinkled in thought for a second before an amusing memory appeared in his mind. He let out a soft chuckle, "This one time in freshman year, I was on my way to my dorm from a late lecture, when I saw these creepy professors peeing on a random guy. I'm not sure but I think they were all dressed like cockroaches too. Naturally I thought I was going mad, but instead of running away I took a picture and then just walked off casually."

"Sounds like something you would do, Austin. Snapping a picture instead of helping the poor victim being attacked with the pee," She smiled teasingly, a soft yawn escaping her mouth a second later.

The long travel journeys were starting to have a huge effect on the duo, their eyes drooped slightly and their voices were quieter. Ally awkwardly tried to find a comfortable position while Austin attempted to stretch his cramped muscles in the impossibly tight space. Soft snow swept across the fragile windows and the freezing cold breeze was finally having an impact on their tired bodies.

A wide yawn sounded from Austin's mouth before he spoke again, noticing Ally's latest uncomfortable position. She was curled up in her seat, shifting every few seconds and trying to rest her head on a snow blocked window. He narrowed his eyes in thought as this had sparked off a past memory. "Erm this isn't my next question but, why are you leaning against the window like that? You never fall asleep that way, I remember you telling me about it once."

The brunette shifted herself off the cold glass, turning to him with a look of surprise, "You still remember that?", he nodded in response, his bangs swaying as he pulled his beanie lower down for more warmth.

Ally narrowed her eyes at him in confusion, "But, I've known you for ages Austin and you've always had a terrible memory. Well, in most things." When it came to studying things for exams and tests it was like the guy had a photographic memory, but ask him to turn off the oven in five minutes and the whole house would burn down.

"Gee thanks Alls, don't hold back with your harsh opinions," he grumbled, tones of sarcasm and teasing in his voice. She gave him an apologetic smile followed directly by an eye roll after he winked at her. He then gave an unsure shrug before continuing. "I guess a few random things manage to stay in my brain, important things. Maybe I just found your incapability of sleeping on a window important," He paused for a while, as if debating whether to continue or not, "It might sound weird, but I do remember loads about you, probably because we were friends before we started dating."

"No, no it's not weird, it's the same with me," She replied, half relieved and half shocked by their conversation. She found it sort of odd that they could still open up about these types of feelings to each other. As exes, this type of thing was supposed to be awkward, but as reunited friends, it was kinda nice.

11:00

"Just admit it Dawson, you're too stubborn for your own good," Austin announced, after Ally had just declined his offer to rest on him. At this point, he had seen the countless shapes and positions she had tried in order to get comfy. All had failed of course, mainly because of the awkwardly placed seats in his car.

So out of the goodness of his heart (or so he said) the blonde had decided to ask the brunette if she wanted to lean on his shoulder for the sake of her sleep. It was common knowledge to everyone that knew Ally, that when both food and sleep deprived she was not pleasant.

The petite girl shot him a tired glare, before turning and leaning back against the cold window. She felt as if it was taunting her. Her tiredness had led her to believe that the window was purposely being extra cold and wet, just to make things even more uncomfortable. 'Stupid villain window,' she thought angrily, 'Austin has probably bribed it or something... Wait... Oh my gosh, I'm going crazy... Okay how have I lasted this long without food again?' Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by something on the window, which caught her eye easily.

She blinked. She blinked again. It took a few more blinks before her vision came into focus and the figure was shown more clearly. In the next space of 3 seconds she observed 3 disturbing things:

It was hairy

It had legs

It was MOVING

She yelped loudly and pushed herself away, hitting Austin in the process. He jerked slightly, before turning to her, his face reflecting both curiosity and slight amusement.

A wave of embarrassment washed over her as she realized a small spider (which had somehow seemed gigantic seconds before) was the cause of her dramatic scene. Austin followed her eyes to the window and smiled, honestly he had found the whole thing quite cute.

"Was it just one of those moments when you see something tiny up close and think it's a huge, gigantic beast for a split second or something?" He asked, she nodded in reply, thankful that he had chosen to sympathize rather than annoy her further.

She turned to him with a small appreciative smile, before moving closer and hesitantly resting her head on his shoulder like he had asked. In truth, there was no immediate jigsaw puzzle feeling, in fact it was slightly awkward at first, until Austin slipped an arm around her shoulders effectively puling her closer. Warmth slowly filled their bodies and Ally resisted the urge to let out a sigh.

"Don't say a word, I'm only doing this because of that spider," she whispered, subtly trying to hide the fairly noticeable blush on her cheeks. "I still think the window was more cosy than you," She finished, the defiant nature almost gone from her voice, making it even more obvious that she was lying.

A cocky smile played on his lips and didn't leave until she nuzzled closer into his neck, causing his face to also redden slightly. She noticed this of course and gave herself a mental reward of satisfaction.

11:50

"Ally... Hey Alls wake up, you got a message from your dad... Ally, come on wake up," Austin said patiently, gently nudging the sleeping girl after a few minutes of just wasting his breath asking her to get up. In his tired state of mind he seemed to have forgotten that just asking Ally Dawson to awake from slumber was a lot like just asking a starving lion not to eat you. It wasn't likely, to put it bluntly.

He ran a hand over his face slowly before rubbing his eyes and shaking himself properly awake. Ally still snored quietly however, continuing to shut out any unwanted noises and distractions. He decided to take advantage of this and allowed himself to look at her for a moment, not to be overly creepy or anything, but just while she couldn't interrupt him. God knows he hardly ever got those moments.

To be honest, he had always thought she looked different while she slept, still Ally, just a little different. More quiet and relaxed, but maybe that was the same for everyone. But she was beautiful while she slept. He thought the same for when she was awake. He didn't just mean physically, he meant her personality too. But ex boyfriends weren't supposed to feel that way about their ex girlfriends, that was blatantly obvious.

Unless there were some feelings left, somewhere in him, that had managed to survive their harsh breakup. He narrowed his eyes slightly in thought and glanced at her once more, before nudging her awake with a little more force.

Her body finally received the message and her eyes snapped open, but unfortunately, growing up in a house with a dangerous prankster of a brother had significantly strengthened her reflex actions. On impulse, as her eyes opened her hands sprung up into some sort of attack position, hitting the boy next to her roughly in the face. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, while he just laughed in sheer shock at the situation.

She winced apologetically as he rubbed his now sore cheek, "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry Austin! Force of habit, you know with Will pranking me all the time. Here let me see, where did I hit you?" She leaned over and reached out a hand to touch his now reddening cheek. He looked at her with a mixture of confusion and amazement. "What?" She asked, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"I don't know, it's just a little weird seeing you acting all concerned, considering you're always so tough."

"What's that supposed to mean? When you injured yourself in high school, didn't I comfort you? Well... Actually I laughed a little, but that was only when I knew you were definitely okay," She smiled teasingly before moving closer and properly examining his small injury.

"Yeah, you laughed but I could tell you were worried really. You still could have shown me a little more sympathy though," he replied, suddenly aware of their closeness. His eyes travelled to her lips involuntarily for a few seconds, before he brought himself to look away.

"Well what did you want me to do, kiss it better?" She asked with a sarcastic tone, looking at him now. He nodded and winked at her jokingly, causing her to look away rapidly to hide her blush. She rolled her eyes, partly at him but mainly at herself before speaking again, "Hey, why did you wake me up anyway, has something happened?"

"No nothing like that, you just got a message from your dad, probably because it's now..." He paused and checked his watch quickly. "... 2 minutes till Christmas."

"Really? It's 2 minutes till Christmas? I remember when I used to stay up this late, waiting impatiently to start running around screaming and opening my presents. I stopped doing that when I was 10."

"I stopped doing that when I was 17," Austin muttered, the brunette laughed quietly and shook her head at him, while getting out her phone. She smiled fondly as she read through the nearly 8 part text that her Dad had sent and giggled at her Mom's, which practically summed up everything he had written in about two sentences.

"Did your parents send you million word texts of worry too?" he asked, as they both replied quickly. She glanced up and gave him a look that said 'You're being ungrateful'

"Of course they're worried, we're both young. I could easily get mugged and you could easily get lost... Not that me getting mugged is likely, I'd destroy the guy."

"Yeah, I think you've made that pretty clear Alls," He added, unsubtly thrusting his sore cheek in her face. She smiled, half amused and half apologetic, before a weird feeling came over her. Either her lack of food was driving her to insanity, or for some strange reason she assumed kissing things actually helped. But suddenly, she began to lean forward with the intention of kissing his cheek.

He turned his head before she could however, causing them both to freeze in their tracks. Ally's eyes widened a fraction and she blushed furiously, mortified at being caught. Her eyes were lost in his, an unfortunate effect he had always had on her. Well, in her opinion. The blonde looked at her intently, glancing between her brown eyes, her few freckles and her lips.

"Ally, I need you to know that if you don't move away right now, I'm probably gonna kiss you," He whispered, his voice soft yet low. She was at a complete loss of words for a few seconds. Vulnerable was how she felt and she hated it. Because now she was in control, making an important decision. And suddenly, she was back to the moment they had broken up- it was her call.

She had never wanted to, but attending colleges miles away from eachother would have definitely strained their relationship. She hadn't wanted him to get hurt, but in the end she ended up hurting both of them. That mistake wasn't going to be made again.

Instead of speaking or moving, she simply continued to stare at him, seemingly unable to do anything else. Her body language didn't give any sign of resistance. So he weaved his hand slowly into her hair. She watched this quietly before focusing again, her eyes flickering from his eyes to his lips.

Then, after one lingering moment, he was kissing her. Her eyes fluttered shut as a hand steadily moved up to his shoulder while the other lay on his chest. Their lips moved in a calm synchronization, before both applied more pressure, effectively deepening the kiss. His head tilted slightly to the side and his free arm pulled her closer, before resting on the small of her back. She sighed gently as his fingers continued to play with her hair.

It was a warm and familiar feeling for both of them, but felt new all the same. Almost like the kind of feeling you have with a first kiss, except different. Their noses brushed silently as his lips continued to mould with hers, slowly and softly, for a few more seconds.

Finally they pulled away, their faces flushed as they tried to regain a steady breathing pattern. The brunette sat unsteadily, still looking at him, her eyes clouded with anxiety. Austin sensed this quickly and thought for a while before speaking, "Alls I..." He paused for a few seconds, considering his next words carefully, "I just-"

"Stop, please," She interrupted softly, unsure that he had even heard. Her voice had honestly shocked her a little because Ally Dawson wasn't a particularly quiet person. Few things made her nervous and passive- obviously feelings was one of them. "I'm not good at this, Austin, I'm really confused. I'm not sure if we can work but...I need you. I've missed you. I-I just don't think I can talk about this now, I need to think."

"You've missed me? God, that probably took guts to admit, considering your pride and all," The blonde replied earning a smile from her and a thankful glance for trying to lighten the mood. He grinned widely, mostly because of her confession, before continuing. "I've missed you too, but I don't want to push you to talk about this straight away. That wouldn't be fair. So...Why don't we leave it for now. It's Christmas, I'd rather just spend time with you than talk about all that and complicate things."

The grateful grin grew on her face as she leaned into him, her previous vulnerability slowly disappearing. "Thank you, really," She said, her voice slightly muffled as she dug her face deeper into his chest. He kissed the top of her head softly before pulling her closer. This was a familiar feeling for both of them, the pure contentment of just being in each others' company. She had missed this feeling far more than she realized and quickly made a silent promise not to push it away this time.

It was as if the universe was giving them another chance in the most unlikely of ways. Honestly, what had happened over the course of 5 hours had the elements to become one of those soppy romance movies her friends would watch (as they were too lazy to read the book version). Because being stuck in a giant snowball with your ex and falling for him all over again - on Christmas Eve - didn't happen very often. Or at all. So maybe there was actually something to all those crazy magical films and songs. Maybe 'Christmas Magic' posters weren't so glare worthy after all. Not that she would ever admit that.